


What Have Three Eyes Seen?

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Harlequin Romance [6]
Category: Bolo - Keith Laumer, Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Dimension Travel, Eldar, Established Relationship, F/M, Humanoid Animals, Mutants, No Canon Knowledge Required, Space Exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-12
Updated: 2006-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-17 08:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As if they haven't been through enough lately, following the tip of a mad God, Tarna and Melaran go off hunting for the three-eyed mutant elf Vistri, who hasn't been seen in millennia, with the Bolo, Vicky, tagging along on their quest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting the El'dari

Tarna left the competition stadium and walked out into the city of Torn Elkandu proper. "Shall we head out now, then, or hang about here a bit longer? And where to next, for that matter... hmmm..."

"Personally I'm just glad it's over," Melaran replied, stopping nearby and offering an apologetic shrug and a grin. "Maybe I'll be more in tune with the changes by the time the next one rolls around. It all just seemed really odd and kinda pointless." He waved it off, taking a thoughtful look around. "As for where next? Hmm. Not sure offhand, though I wouldn't mind seeing that city Shazmar mentioned sometime."

He'd been sticking with verbal communication for a while now in respect of the company they'd been keeping, which in fact shadowed them curiously even now. Vicky's uniform looked drab and perhaps out of place in comparison to the wild styles and colors of the crowds still milling and moving, but it definitely seemed to suit the shapeshifting Bolo.

"It's just meant to be for fun, and for meeting new and interesting people and trying to kill them. Which city was that?" Tarna wondered, thinking back and trying to recall what specifically they had been speaking about previously.

"I know, I know," Melaran replied, chuckling, "Bear with me, I'm still a bit Eldar at heart.... And the city in question, ummm, what was the name?" He tapped his fingertips together, thinking. "Damnit, he said it was on Lezaria or something, where the Eldar of that universe had come out of stasis and started rebuilding."

"Right, that," Tarna said. "Sure, that's not far from here. Torn Elkandu is adjacent to Lezaria in the Ethereal Plane."

"Right, that, but what was the name? Argh." Melaran muttered. "I must be going senile in my old age, that or I've had far too many things taking potshots at me lately to remember obscure details tossed out by a crazy God." He shrugged. "It'd be interesting to see, and maybe something will spark our interest there."

"Eldamar, he said," Tarna replied, heading toward the ship again. "Just a hop, skip, and a jump away, let's take a look, then!"

"Ah, _thank_ you!" Melaran grinned. "Probably would have been poking at me all the way to this Lezaria. Well let's go take a look then, can't imagine there's likely to be a war-zone going there at least... for now anyway."

Chuckling, he shook his head and walked off toward the landing field, knowing things like that could change at a moment's notice. The ship was fully prepared to depart, he'd made sure of that before.

Tarna hopped in and settled in for the short trip. Indeed, coming out of the Ethereal Plane from there took them practically on top of Lezaria, over the central continent. Lezaria is a larger planet than Terra, with a sun relatively brighter, but still well within habitable range for humans. The seas are also a vibrant blue, more so than one would normally expect.

"Looks like a nice world," Melaran mused, hovering nearby to enjoy the view for a moment and then turning to sensors to check on likely sites of the city as well as other minor details. Like, oh, any transmissions challenging them for identification on short notice before opening fire, that sort of thing.

There were a lot of forests on Lezaria, and grassy open plains, mountains, although recent signs of battle were clearly visible in the scorched remains of towns. There were, however, some towns that were relatively intact and larger, one along the largest river on this continent, one next to a bay on the northern side of the continent, and such.

"If they're anything alike, they probably went for at least a bit of isolation," Melaran remarked thoughtfully, studying the scanner data, and smiled slightly. "Not to mention a sense of the aesthetic. I'd bet on this city to the north, near the bay... Sunrise and set would be beautiful from the right angle. Good a place to start as any." He nudged the ship in that direction, scanning for landing facilities.

From a closer look, however, this particular city looked as though it had been there for centuries, if not millennia. There was a massive stone wall surrounding the city from the south side, although it was broken and scorched in places there are signs of... dwarves, apparently, and some humans... repairing it.

Melaran chuckled at the closer look. "So much for insight." Might be interesting to take a look at sometime, but not really what they were seeking just now and he shifted their course to go and make a closer examination of the other large city that had been detected.

This city was larger geographically and more sprawling, with buildings made of wood and often painted with ornate murals, but it also appeared to have taken damage in the recent fighting. The majority of the people here appeared to be humans, although there were a fair amount of elves, gnomes, and the occasional dwarf as well.

"Well that's odd," Melaran mused, bringing the ship to a hover some small distance away, "Would they go through the trouble to hide the thing? Power expenditure on something that size would have to be _horrific_!"

"Well. There _are_ two other continents," Tarna commented. "The northern continent is the largest one, while the southern continent is smaller. There's also several island chains..."

"Let's go take a look then, shall we?" Melaran replied, gaining altitude and then turning the craft to look for another.

The northern continent was by far the largest continent on the planet, spanning almost an entire hemisphere and containing a large number of cities and towns of varying sizes. Whereas the middle continent was primarily inhabited by humans, many of the cities here are inhabited by elves, with some countries of gnomes, orcs, and the like as well.

Melaran shook his head bemusedly, wondering how the hell he missed that from earlier. He did some more detailed scanning, looking for signs that would indicate the presence of something a bit more hospitable than some of the races below would seem to indicate. An elven enclave would suffice, he supposes, at least for stopping by and asking for news or directions.

There were entire countries inhabited almost solely by elves. Dark-haired elves, blond elves, silver-haired elves, and red-haired elves. He could take his pick. Melaran studied it for a few minutes, picking out more details to refine and base a decision on just as they'd done back in that crazed Sphere. Technology level wasn't necessarily the most important, but it definitely had a factor in what made a race _civilized_. With that in mind, he chose the most likely prospect and heads in that direction.

The highest technology level he could pick up is in a valley nestled in near a dormant volcano toward the eastern edge of the continent, between the country of gnomes to the south of it, and elves to the north and west. This city was inhabited by about equal numbers of elves and gnomes, and has the highest technology of anywhere around by far. That would definitely work, Melaran mused, and directed the ship that way to seek out a likely landing spot where they wouldn't cause _too_ much of a stir.

Indeed, there were a number of spaceships and aircars parked along a landing area near town, some smaller vehicles flying in and out as they approach. They received a message over the comm. "This is Air Traffic Control for the Valley of Gal. Please submit identification."

Melaran replied appropriately, the routine challenge and signs of other craft giving a boost to the reasoning for coming here. The most important thing of all that technology meant was communication, very important when you're looking for news on something.

"You are cleared for landing on Landing Pad C1. Please do not deviate from the designated course," the air traffic controller replied.

"Understood," Melaran replied and cut the connection, then chuckled as he proceeds to follow the directions. "I have to wonder why all traffic controllers use the same line, only a fool would go haring off in random directions in controlled space." Of course there were probably any number of fools who did, so he couldn't say _too_ much.

"Or a gnome," Tarna added. The landing area was clearly marked and had plenty of room for them to land safely. The other vessels in the area exhibit a wide variety of designs and styles, although one small aircar labeled the "glittercar" appeared to be pretty popular.

"I haven't seen much of those, just at the competition," Melaran replied, rising and setting about to securing the ship and other minor details before leaving. "They seemed pretty... odd."

"Be glad. You're fortunate," Tarna said. "We're about to meet a whole bunch of them here, though."

As the landing area was a fair distance from town, there was a handy railcar present to transport people to and from the city proper.

"Oh joy." Melaran grinned, securing his helmet at his waist for now and the rifle at his back.

He might relax enough sometime to not go fully armed, and he knew it'd be just about that time that something would leap out and try to eat them. He chuckled and jerked his head in the direction of the railcar.

"Let's see what we can find in town, if nothing else we can look around for anything of interest."

"All aboard! Next train to town leaves in three minutes!" called the gnomish conductor.

Tarna climbed aboard. The car was primarily filled with elves, gnomes, and a few humans. It wasn't really built for much comfort, but at least there were enough seats for everyone.

Melaran took a seat to wait, his own inspection of their fellow passengers an exercise in quiet curiosity. The competition had been almost overwhelming in that regard, so _many_ different kinds of beings all shoved into one place, almost enough to make the mind revolt! He glanced over at Vicky for a moment and chuckled, on one hand wondering how she dealt with it as a machine to start out, and finding an answer in the question.

The train shortly left the port and zipped off smoothly toward the city, although moving so quickly that they find themselves pressed against the backs of their seats. At least the ride is quick, taking around ten minutes to reach a station in town. The train stops, a little too abruptly, and passengers began filing off. Melaran quirked a brow at the sudden stop, wondering how many people end up getting hurt or have a securing belt fail... not a pleasant thought. He moved into the line filing away and stopped nearby to take a look around.

"Hmm, now where would we find a nice little tourist trap, selling maps and all sorts of kitschy junk?" He blinked at that, then snorted as he looks over to Tarna. "Remind me to shoot Bob the next time we see him," he said, "Why the hell did he add something so weird to what I know?"

Tarna looked at him oddly, then bursts out laughing. "Because it's funny, obviously."

Not far from the train station, there was a brightly painted building with a flashing neon sign that said "RESTAURANT AND GIFT SHOP", as well as a neon hamburger and a present to emphasize that point for whoever might not be able to read any of the three languages that the sign was posted in.

Melaran smirked, but couldn't help chuckling at the absurdity of it even as he wondered what other little surprises the crazy prankster had set neatly in wait to ambush him at odd moments. At least he meant well, and that was comfort enough.

"C'mon," he said, gesturing toward the combination trap. "They should have what we need." He walks over in the direction, shaking his head in exasperated amusement, and mutters, "Bloody jesters."

The place offered all sorts of little useless trinkets, shirts that said "Valley of Gal" with pretty images of the mountain, little toy contraptions of clear indication of overuse of technology, mood rings, hats, and brochures. From the other side of the building, the smells of a variety of food wafted over the shop.

Melaran hrms, looking around and trying to imagine a possible use for even one-hundredth of the stuff that's on display... and failing miserably. "Maps." He chuckled and headed for the brochure display, hoping to find something of use there, if nothing else some touristy little brochure proclaiming the incredible delights and extolling the virtues of other locations.

The brochures indeed gave extensive rambling about the amazing sights to be seen around the continent of Zarhanna, with maps included. 'See the world from the peaks of Mount Daggerblade! Walk amongst the cherry forests of Thalarey! Watch the moons rise on the Isle of Halladan!' et cetera.

Melaran couldn't help but chuckle at the energetic sales pitch someone clearly put into all of this, though he wasn't immune to a couple moments thoughtful inspection of a couple of locales for personal reasons. Later, he admonished himself sternly, and instead turned to one of the maps to try and get an idea of where they might find Eldamar.

Vicky wasn't quite so quick to dismiss all the trinkets and souvenirs, remembering well all the times that former commanders and their brigade mates had returned from their own leaves with seemingly endless streams of the stuff. She'd never understood the compulsion to collect the things, and didn't now, but she found their natural habitat to be an interesting, if bittersweet, experience.

The images and such through the brochure were quite vibrant, although clearly a bit out of date as they were made before the recent Chaos invasion. There was also no mention of Eldamar on the maps, either. They likely hadn't printed up new ones with it on it yet.

Melaran shrugged and returned the last he'd looked at to its rack, not surprised really that there'd been no sign to be found. Word of mouth tended to be considerably more up-to-date than more conventional media in most ways, and he looked around for someone who might be working here.

There was a busty dark-haired elf working at the counter and checking over a ledger as he approaches. "Can I help you with something?" she said as they come close.

"Certainly," Melaran replied with a polite smile. "Or at least I hope you can. We had a..." he thinks about that a second, and chuckled lightly before continuing, "a friend recommend a visit to Eldamar, but can't seem to find it on any of the maps over there. Heard anything about it?"

"Oh, yes, those things, they're so out of date, the place just appeared a few months ago," she drawled. She spoke standard English, although it was called Kalorese here, but she had a strong Zarhian elvish accent. "It's over in Thalarey, up in the cherry forests where the Zephyli live."

"Zephyli?" Melaran asked, the general vicinity at least clear enough in his mind from threading through the brochures, including the one dedicated to that area specifically, "What are they like?"

"Oh, here, let me find a picture," she said, digging around a bit and pulling out some images of Thalarey, with massive cherry trees with flying monkeys with silver and gold feathered wings darting amongst them. "Those are Zephyli.

"How interesting," Melaran said, looking at the creatures curiously, "And the scenery is beautiful, I can see why they had a brochure on the place." Wild and exotic, remote, and the wonders of nature surrounding them... oh yes, he could understand the appeal.

"Do enjoy your trip. Is there anything I can get you before you go?" the clerk offered, smiling helpfully to him.

"No, thank you," Melaran replied, offering a polite nod before turning away and looking at Tarna questioningly. "Anything you can think of needing or needing to do before heading off?"

"Not I," Tarna said, glancing over toward Vicky and her apparent interest in the various items around the place.

Melaran looked over that way as well, but Vicky just smiled and shook her head. "Guess not then." 

He chuckled and headed for the door, the prospect of another ride on the railway before them. Tarna waved to the helpful clerk and headed back out toward the railway station. There was another car waiting and ready to take them back to the airport.

A short time later found them returned to the air, Melaran taking a minute to orient the desired location in his mind and then translating it to the familiar interface of the node before sending the ship speeding in that direction.

The cherry forests of Thalarey were nestled between the Kedresidon Mountains to the east, the Mountains of Morderant to the west, and the east edge of the Skyshadows to the north. There were a few towns along the coast, but only one city of any real size showed up inland. Unless they went to the trouble, Melaran was inclined to assume that the city was their destination and approached for a closer examination as well as remaining alert for communication hails.

The city appears to have been shaped and grown recently, partly from the natural surroundings and trees, of fairly familiar structure although there were clear differences. The place seemed to be inhabited by El'dari and Zephyli, the latter of which flew to and fro in the air nearby, and darted out of the way as the ship approaches.

"Be it ever so humble," Melaran murmured, gaining a bit of altitude to avoid the general flying patterns of the Zephyli as well as give a better vantage to look for a suitable landing area.

They didn't appear to have as yet set up a formal landing area, although a nearby clearing was dotted with a couple small vehicles on the grass. Melaran turned the ship in that direction and made to land, looking curiously to the other ships as he did so.

There were definite similarities in what he'd already seen, but the differences were all the more striking for it and strengthened curiosity about these distant kin all the more. They were nothing particularly large or complicated, some of them bearing a good deal of resemblance to what he'd seen in Gal and indicating that they probably originated from there. There wasn't anyone else visible in the clearing when he lands.

"Let's see what Shazmar was talking about." Melaran chuckled, heading for the hatch, idly wondering just when he'd gone a little bit off the deep end when it came to the gods of this place or his own origin. If nothing else, he supposed, they'd led to interesting times and there was something to be said for that.

As they approached the city, they encounter a patrol of armed Zephyli who looked them over briefly and say, "Welcome to Eldamar, friends."

"Thank you," Melaran replied politely, examining their armed state out of old habit, and asked, "Is there anything here that visitors should be aware or wary of?"

They appeared to bear El'dari-made weaponry, although they didn't seem fully comfortable with it yet. The Zephyl quirked an eyebrow and said. "No. You are under the protection of the Zephyli here in Eldamar. Fear not for your well-being. We will watch over you."

Melaran chuckled softly, the idea of an Eldar warrior being under the protection of anyone might have rankled before but was merely a source of quiet amusement now. "Many thanks," he replied with a polite nod, respect clear in it as he did indeed recognize and appreciate the sentiment... and wondered as to the nature of its origin, that they should seek to protect the El'dari at all!

He gestured to Tarna and Vicky, then headed in the direction of the city proper to take a closer look and see what was to be found there. The El'dari walking around the city glanced curiously in their direction, as if wondering just who these strangers are. But here, for all they'd built in the short months since their awakening, there weren't so many of them, a few thousand at most.

There was something soothing about being among one's own kind, even distantly related, and Melaran eased by degrees as they walked. Memories rose unbidden here and there, of places and events long ago and far away, but there wasn't the pain associated with them that he'd have expected in exile... only bittersweet melancholy. He wasn't really certain what he was looking for, if anything, and was content to wander for a while until one thing or another caught one of their eyes.

Oddly enough, there seemed to be about as many Zephyli in the town as El'dari, if not more. They seemed to respect and venerate the El'dari, and many of them were armed and guarding things which might need to be guarded. That detail was a curiosity, and one which nagged for a time before Melaran succumbed to the temptation and looked to find a group of the Zephyli standing guard or otherwise making their presence felt as a protective shield.

They weren't difficult to find, a few of them standing watch outside what appeared to be an armory. A couple of them watched them as they approach, and one said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you are not authorized to enter this building."

Melaran smiled and held a hand before him. "I'm not looking to enter, I was just wondering if I might ask a few questions."

"Ah. Certainly, do ask, and we shall attempt to answer as best as possible."

"Thank you," Melaran replied, then thought about it for a moment before starting out. "I'd heard about this place from a friend and decided to take a look, but there's some things that puzzle me. For example, when we came in and everywhere I've looked, I've seen ones like you going about as though a shield for the El'dari... why? What history or reason is there to it?"

The Zephyl replied, with a fair touch of pride, "We Zephyli have been the guardians of the cherries for thousands of years. When the dark ones came to corrupt and destroy, we protected the trees, we fought them back, and many of us died."

Melaran looked confused at that. "The cherries?" The dark ones he didn't have to ask or think about for even a moment, assuming immediately that they referred to the Chaos incursion which had plagued and left its scars on the unprepared worlds of this galaxy.

"The cherry trees, in which the spirits of the sleepers rested for nigh a hundred thousand years," the Zephyl replied. "Some of them, they spoke to us in dreams, on the edge of sleep, before they finally awakened, and built this city."

"Ahhh," Melaran replied, understanding dawning, though the idea of a hundred thousand years was incredible to think of in stasis. It didn't surprise him that the sleepers would have reached out in ways to others around them, still awake and drinking deeply of life, but still... "Why did they sleep so long, if they knew there were others out here who would likely welcome them?"

"They could not awaken, for the one who was meant to awaken them when the mad space mutants had gone and the world was safe again, did not do so, and is missing. They do not know where he may have gone or why he did not awaken then when he was supposed to have done so. But then another came, one Dolen Ista, who awoke them from their long slumber, and much thanks must be given to him, for without his assistance they may have easily slept another hundred thousand years before anyone woke them."

"Dolen?" Melaran asked, then snorts in amusement. "Figures. Always making trouble." He chuckled and shook his head, then offered a graceful nod in appreciation, "That answered what I was wondering about very well, thank you. I'll leave you to your duty."

"Farewell, sir. May you go in peace," the Zephyl replied, returning to his watch.

Melaran walked away, a quirked smile on his lips as he glanced aside to Tarna. "Well, now I know, and can only guess why one of the Eldar was needed to do something they'd obviously set up in advance. No plan survives contact with the enemy though." He shrugged, suddenly thoughtful. "A hundred thousand years is a pretty long time. Wonder if they remember anything that might point out the origins of the Nexus' technology. I'll admit it, I'm nosey." He grinned. "And little things like that make me curious."

Tarna chuckled. "Well, they must remember something, if they've managed to build all this. Perhaps we should ask them, then."

"Indeed." Melaran nodded. "Let's see if we can't find some sort of community or record hall, best places to check I'd think."

After a bit of wandering, they located something that may be a fair bet for finding the information they sought. They found an El'dari woman inside who glanced up from her work at them as they entered. She seemed a little surprised to see them here, and dressed as they were.

Melaran nodded politely in greeting, finding some of the little habits of being Eldar returning here, and smiled. "Hello, my name's Melaran," he said, then indicated his companions in turn, "This is Tarna, and Vicky. We're new in town and taking a look around, and hoped there might be someone here to answer a question or two."

"I am Almarith, the Seeker of the El'dari of Eldamar. Of what nature is the information that you seek?" she asked. "I am afraid that we are missing numerous records of the happenings prior to our awakening, as none of our technology appears to have survived the intervening period, doubtless having been destroyed or scavenged long ago by those who came to this world after us."

"That doesn't surprise me." Melaran nodded. "Though what I'm really curious about may be things that were told as tales and kept in song as well, mostly an idea of general history. I'm curious, having run across what looked like technology similar to what my own people have used for a long time while in Torn Elkandu... clearly similar in origin, but changed by other hands."

"Yes, I am aware of the portals and the Nexus," Almarith replied. "It is indeed an adaptation of our own technology, to an extent. When we went into slumber, we left a sealed cavern in the mountains to the east, which contained a number of books detailing various matters, as well as a number of items of middling import. However, it appears that the colonists of this world discovered this cavern and used the information for their own purposes in the intervening time period. We are as yet uncertain as to how they succeeded in opening the seal, for it was keyed to an item of power crafted of cherry wood, and carried by the one who was to have awoken us, Vistri. Perhaps that means some evil befell him in the intervening time."

"That would certainly explain it," Melaran replied. "People are always poking their noses into things that are better left alone, at least this didn't seem to have any significantly dangerous reasoning behind being sealed away. You don't have any idea of what happened to this Vistri, though? The natives back then weren't likely using much more than stone and flint, I can't imagine them being a danger."

"When we entered our slumber, there were no others upon this planet but ourselves. The planet Silthor, now called Lezaria, had no natural inhabitants. Those who live here now came to this world while we slept."

"Which makes the event of his disappearance all the more curious," Melaran replied. "Was he supposed to go somewhere and hide, or do something specific? Otherwise I can't imagine why it would take so long to see everyone awakened."

"His well-being was left to himself, he was only to avoid the more dangerous mutants who would seek to kill him. That may not have even entailed requiring to remain on this world during that period at all. But, he was intelligent and wise, cunning and farsighted, I do not believe he was slain, myself."

"I wouldn't think so," Melaran agreed. "Your and my own people are clearly different, but I doubt that being easy to kill is one of them... which means he's probably out there someplace, and most likely lost since he hasn't come back. Not a pleasant fate."

"He could be anywhere in the galaxy by now, or even further," Almarith said. "I fear what would have become of him had the insane mutants caught him, because they feel that he betrayed them, they would not have let him die easily."

"Betrayed..." Melaran tilted his head, puzzled, "When you first mentioned these mutants, I figured you were talking about Chaos, or maybe this universe's equivalent, but that doesn't sound right now. What or who were these mutants?"

"Chaos would be a fair name for them," Almarith replied. "They were the ones of Til'raine, their forms and minds twisted by excessive and uncontrolled contact with the energies of the Ethereal Plane, over many generations as mutations became more and more common until the Til'dari were forced to leave their home as it was consumed and destroyed. They were mad, most of them, but not all of the mutants were evil. Vistri was the best mutant I have ever known, Til'dari born, but his wisdom, his courage, and his honor were stronger than most I have known who had not been touched by that foul taint. He was a great help to us in the early years when we were forced to defend ourselves against the mad ones."

"Thaaaaaat'd be about right," Melaran nodded at the description of the corruption found in immersion of the Warp/Ethereal. Bad, _bad_ news, he only wondered how the hell the Harlequins resisted its effects as well as they did. "Too bad there's no clue where he might have gone," he added. "Sounds like it would've been interesting to talk to him, not to mention being useful as you rebuild."

"If you should happen in your travels to discover any sign or word of him, I would be most appreciative to learn of it, even if only a rumor of what he may have been doing a thousand years ago."

"I'll certainly keep an ear out," Melaran replied, though not really hopeful as there were uncounted places someone could be in a year, much less a _hundred thousand_ years, but then... he tilted his head as a thought struck, still not really _used_ to thinking in terms of power beyond that of sword and gun, and murmured, "There may be another way, too. I don't suppose anything survived that would identify him?"

"Oh, Vistri is quite unique," Almarith said, a measure of hope bringing up the present tense in her voice. "The third eye in the middle of his forehead was rare even among the mutants..."

"And none of your seers have been able to find any trace of him?" Melaran asked, his momentary thought coming head to head with the likelihood that they'd already _tried_ that approach.

"None whatsoever," Almarith replied. "Not even a sign indicating that he no longer lives."

Well, it wouldn't hurt to try again, Melaran mused, with a fresh persepctive and an outsider's eye it might put a different spin on things. Barring anything else, there might be someone back in Torn Elkandu who could do the trick.

"That's probably a pretty good sign that you're right and that he's hidden somewhere," he said, grinning faintly. "The dead don't usually hide themselves well, or their killers bother with it."

"Admittedly," she added, "the place which once was Til'raine is hidden from our sight, for few can penetrate the raging chaos that swirls where once lay that ancient world."

"Where's this Til'raine?" Melaran asked, though he could guess that it was probably in a nasty little corner of the Ethereal that at least matched the fury of the Warp, from its description.

"Far from here, for the destruction of Til'raine caused much harm to that which was around it." She told him the coordinates.

Melaran made note of them, though he smirked as he glanced aside at Vicky... like he'd _need_ to remember them. Eesh. He returned to the matter at hand, though, and shrugged. "I can't think of anything else right off that would help, so I suppose we'll go and take a look." Chuckling, he added, "Not like there's another stop lined up on our 'vacation' at the moment."

"Be careful, if you do decide to go there, for the place was not abandoned without reason, and those who remained are extremely dangerous," she said.

Tarna got a distant look for a moment, then said quietly, "That's Pandemonium..."

"Pandemonium?" Melaran asked, his attention abruptly shifting to Tarna. "I take it you've heard of the place, then, even if it's called something different now?"

"About the nastiest collection of demons and general unpleasant vacation spot the Elkandu know of, yes," Tarna replied.

Melaran made a face at that. "We'll look at that as a last resort, I think. That doesn't exactly sound like friendly territory to be strolling through, and there may be other ways to go about it. No clue _what_ , but there's bound to be something."

"Aye, it's not too hard a place to get into, but rather more difficult to get out of again. And it's _nuts_. That place is so fucked up..."

"Considering you referred to Torn Elkandu as relatively sane," Melaran replied dryly, "I think I'll take your word on just how screwed up the place is and avoid it if at all possible. Hmm."

"But man, this is a trail so cold, it's glacial. Hmm. What was that you were saying about books left here? The Tinean books?"

"Just because something's old doesn't mean it might not be hiding right under our noses." Melaran chuckled lightly. "And there is another asset to do a bit of Seeking that might have more luck than anyone else _I_ know of..." He jerked a discreet thumb in Vicky's direction at that.

"Yes, those books," The El'dari woman replied. "We hid them in a cavern in the mountains to the east, the ones now called the Kedresidon."

Tarna mused, "But that was not where the Elkandu found them recently. The Elkandu found them in the Library Tower in Sheenvale. They were clearly at some point removed from this cave and moved there."

"So another angle to look into," Melaran mused. "Though not really any more recent than the other. It's a place to start at least."

"But, Lezaria was only colonized ten thousand years ago. And there are people alive who have been around nearly that long and present for the events involved, and one of them is sane and won't try to turn you into a raging tentacle monster, too."

Melaran chuckled. "As I said, a place to start. Anything else you can think of?"

"The cave you mentioned, you said its seal was keyed to an item of cherry wood, correct?" Tarna says. "This wouldn't happen to be the Key of Cherry by some wild chance, would it?"

The woman replied, "Well, yes, it _was_ in the form of a key..."

Tarna mused some more. Melaran remained silent, lifting a brow and watching Tarna for the moment as she was clearly more familiar with anything regarding this universe than he.

"That item is also not unknown to the Elkandu," Tarna said. "It's possible, if not likely, that whoever went to this cave and removed the books, _had_ the key, and not merely broken in in some manner... Well, that key was in the possession of one Keolah when the Elkandu were founded... Where she got it is anyone's guess."

"Ah, I see," Melaran nodded, following the trail well enough to that point.

"But, that was only a little over five hundred years ago," Tarna said, musing some more. "That wasn't really the beginning of the Elkandu, though. Torn Elkandu already existed when they got there."

"Right, which means someone somewhere sometime before did something to lead to those events and will have to be found," Melaran said.

"But who would know what happened during the years of the early Elkandu? Only Sardill, Amanda, and Harmony."

On cue, one tentacle monster showed up out of nowhere and said, "Yes?"

The El'dari woman about jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance and looked at her warily, as if expecting to be attacked.

Melaran remembered seeing the creature at the competition and wasn't unduly alarmed, raising a hand in reassurance to the El'dari woman, "It's alright."

Harmony rolled about seven eyes and said, "Feh, so uptight." She took on the form of an El'dari, however, clearly mocking them and ridiculously proportioned, so tall that even sitting her head touched the ceiling, and with ears at least three feet long. "Better?" She grinned mischievously.

Melaran rolled his eyes and gestured toward her. "Well there's one of the ones you mentioned, Tarna, ask away."

Tarna said, "Er. Yeah. Right. Harmony, what do you know of the Key of Cherry?"

Harmony said, "Key of Cherry? Oh, I don't really remember. I think I was given it by a traveling stranger when I was a kid on my family's farm, before I learned about my powers."

Melaran listened and nodded once, thinking perhaps that Vistri may well have been the one she'd seen.

"I didn't know why he'd given it to me, until we traveled to the northern continent and found the cave with the books," she said. "But I kept them from Sardill just to piss him off. Stupid cousin."

"Any idea where this stranger went to, or why he gave you this key?" Melaran asked.

"Nope, never saw him since then," Harmony said.

"And the key?" Melaran asked.

"I, er, misplaced it at some point or another, I think," she said sheepishly, then shrugged.

Melaran smirked and shook his head.

"You don't happen to remember his name or what he looked like, do you?" Tarna pressed.

"Oooh yeah," Harmony said gleefully, nodding her head enough to make her giant ears flop. "But it's a secret."

"Harmony..." Tarna said in exasperation.

"Oh, fine, fine," Harmony said. "He was a pale-skinned mutant elfy type, with three eyes! Can't forget that. I based all the other elves on him, you know. Well, minus the extra eye, anyway. Most of them didn't want any additional appendages. So boring."

"There probably aren't many three-eyed elves running around," Tarna said drily. "I think we found our match."

"Are you sure you don't want antlers?"

"I think I can likely speak for all of us when I say 'no'. Thanks anyway," Melaran replied.

"Oh well. Tata." She vanished.

"Strange creature," Melaran muttered, then set it aside. "At least she had a few useful bits of information."

The El'dari woman relaxed as Harmony was gone and said, "Why would he give her the key?"

"No way to know without asking him," Melaran replied. "Though being alive then gives a pretty good idea that he still is now."

"That was around... what... nine thousand years ago?"

"More recent than anything else to go on, I'd guess."

"And that would have been Albrynnia, the southern continent."

"So that would appear to be our first stop, and go from there."

"A good a place as any to start," Tarna said, stretching. "Shall we, then?"

"But of course," Melaran replied.

Tarna gave a short bow to the El'dari woman and headed back out toward where they had left the ship. "Some vague hints, some clues and rumors, smoke and shadows... but it's something."


	2. The Ancient Library

The southern continent of Lezaria was the smallest of the three continents, and shaped vaguely like a rabbit. It was even more heavily forested than the other two continents.

"Any thoughts, oh illustrious native?" Melaran asked, chuckling lightly. Even a small continent was a considerable area to search.

Tarna snorted softly. "Don't look at me, this isn't my planet. I've hardly even been to this continent before. Where's a map and a history book when you need one?"

"May as well see what's there," Melaran replied, setting the scanners to work at finding the usual sorts of information. "Something may show up as interesting, at least."

There were three major cities on the continent of Albrynnia, one on the northern coast, one in a valley in the western region north of the bay, and one on a peninsula overlooking the southern end of the large bay.

Melaran shrugged and set up a quick random generator routine, then set a course for the southernmost city. "One place is as good as another to begin, I suppose."

This was the largest city on the continent, and it appeared to be thousands of years old and left to ruin for many millennia before finally being rebuilt and reinhabited recently. It was inhabited almost entirely by dark-skinned humans.

Melaran looked for a suitable landing place nearby, barring any disagreement on the approach. There were some open, rocky fields to the east of the city. The land in the immediate vicinity didn't appear to be too suitable for agriculture. The humans living here didn't appear to possess particularly high technology, pre-industrial primarily.

Primitive societies had advantages in dealing with them at times, Melaran mused, heading for the rocky fields to set down. At the least they wouldn't have to worry about being chased off with flamers and plasma guns.

The humans seemed a bit nervous at their approach, but didn't seem too unused to people in spaceships or people with pointy ears, even ones who weren't happening to be shooting at them at the moment. This city showed considerably less damage than the ones further north. It appeared that less attention was paid to the primitive and sparsely populated southern continent. Not surprising in a Chaos incursion. The heavier populated areas were fine targets for the vile depredations of the four foul gods and the rest could be taken care of at leisure. Melaran wasn't certain what to look for, and merely keeps an eye out for the moment.

There was an ancient statue of a man with a pitchfork in the center of town, presumably a farmer. Near it, there was the largest building of town, with a sign of a book hanging outside. Library, hall of records, new-age bookshop... Melaran glared at nothing in particular at that last thought, and headed in the direction of the building. That was a pretty common universal symbol.

It was, apparently, a very large and extensive library. Books upon books on a variety of subjects line the walls, but they were all written in Old Albrynnian, and most of them look very, very old. Melaran smirked and went in search of a caretaker of this library, the nature of scholars and sages ever one willing to expand upon the copious amounts of knowledge at their disposal if someone showed any inclination to listen.

He found an old, dark-skinned blond human, blind in one eye, sitting behind a desk and squinting at some scrolls. The man glanced up at them as they approach and said, "Hmph. More strangers. More Elkandu, no doubt. What seek you this time?"

"No Elkandu," Melaran replied, grinning, not even going to try and differentiate Tarna's origins and appearance, didn't matter. "Though I'd certainly be interested to hear of what they may have been looking for."

"Bah. Always one damned thing or another. Methods of magic used by the wild men of ancient Albrynnia. Treatises on the alchemical uses of indigenous plant life of the Hledrast mountains. That sort of thing."

"An eclectic range for an equally strange race," Melaran replied, shrugged. "I'm more interested in legends and stories, though, particularly those which have something to do with the El'dari or a tall and mysterious mage who wandered through this way a long time ago."

"Legends. Stories. Hmph. Ancient history, it was, back in the days when my people first opened their eyes upon the shining sun Yallia, after the great metal birds carried us across the stars to this world. Hmph. You'll want the second story, section 9."

"Thank you," Melaran replied with a polite nod, then went to find the indicated section.

After a quick look down the hallway, however, he saw that there didn't appear to be a section 9, or even a second story. And the building looked a lot smaller on the inside than it did on the outside... Odd. Melaran returned to look for the scholar, intending to ask for slightly more specific directions or perhaps a guide.

"Oh, the secret door behind the bookshelf is closed again," he said pensively. "Down that hallway, push the book labeled 'Desert Flora of Western Hlaya'."

Secret.. door... in a library. Alright then. Melaran thanked the man again and went to see about this door, shaking his head in puzzlement.

Tarna muttered, "Which one of these is about the desert flora of Hlaya? I can't read this crap..."

"Nor can I," Melaran replied, "Why I was looking for a chatty sage to begin with." He muttered and headed back once more for a bit of help.

Tarna glanced around to see if the walking computer was still following them around. Melaran started to head back once more, but stopped at the sound of a door opening behind them. Vicky had indeed been following them, as she had since joining their company, and clearly had no difficulty in translating the titles to find the book in question.

"Figures," Melaran smirked, looking at her for a moment, then heading through the door revealed.

Tarna shrugged, gave her a nod of thanks, and headed through the secret door. It led into a dim passageway that shortly stopped at a staircase heading up toward the second floor.

Melaran waved Vicky ahead with a gesture. "Section 9, probably marked in equally inscrutable fashion."

Vicky looked at him curiously for a moment, wondering as to the reasoning behind the descriptive applied to the perfectly rational and reasonable structure which appeared to apply to categorization here, but continues past and upward to find the section in question.

The section was, indeed, clearly labeled in ancient Albrynnian. Below the section sign read the words "Tales of Modern Albrynnia". Oddly, this second story seemed in far better condition than the first floor, and there were some signs of higher technology here, such as the nearly inaudible hum that might be machinery above them.

"What information is desired, specifically," Vicky asked, scanning the titles available. "Data access from this media will require a significant amount of time, approximately two minutes per source to scan, assimilate, and categorize it within storage."

"Um..." Tarna said. "Anything about this mysterious stranger, I think. The natives of this continent are dark-skinned, so it may have mentioned him as being light-skinned, or _anything_ about a guy with a third eye in the middle of his forehead."

Vicky nodded to acknowledge that and started on the task in a methodical fashion, the first volume disappearing at a remarkable rate as she scanned each page only briefly and continued flipping gently through the book. Melaran watched her with quiet surprise, though amused at himself at it as he should have expected it from the odd machine-human hybrid.

Tarna wasn't particularly surprised at all. Some Elkandu telepaths, including herself, had been known to exhibit similar capabilities under various circumstances. She had to wonder if her mind was still as rigid and disciplined as it used to be, back then.

"Now I suppose we wait," Melaran said quietly to avoid disturbing Vicky's concentration, and walked to stand near Tarna.

Tarna meandered off to poke around at the place a bit, and, by chance, stumbled upon another hidden passage behind a bookshelf. This one, however, led to a room which had a glowing cylinder of light within it.

Melaran, not having any particular purpose or reason to remain where they were, followed Tarna absently. The discovery brought a questioning look, "What do you suppose that is?"

"I have no idea," Tarna said, boldly walking up to it and vanishing with an abrupt whoosh as she came close.

Melaran gritted his teeth, then walked quickly out to draw Vicky's attention. A terse explanation and warning later, he stepped to follow into the pillar of light, leaving Vicky to continue her study as well as remaining alert for any changes.

The pillar swiftly teleported him somewhere else, into a room with a matching pillar, as well as high-tech terminals of clearly human design surrounding him, with various screens, consoles, and displays. They all looked in quite good condition, although there were clear signs that they were very old. Tarna was meandering around the room peering at them.

"You are going to be the death of me, woman." Melaran snorted, glaring at her with mock severity.

Tarna chuckled and said, "Teleporters and terminals in a library? This place doesn't appear so primitive as it first seemed..."

"And how did you know it wasn't the local equivalent of a trash can, leading to an incinerator? Argh," Melaran couldn't hold the expression for long though and sighed in exasperation, then chuckled and went to take a look.

Tarna snickered softly. "You never know where the rabbit hole might lead unless you jump down it."

She peered about the room. One of the consoles was apparently displaying the final scene of a fighting game, in which an animated woman with a sword was laying on the ground beaten up and another guy was standing flexing nearby.

"Wonder if there's anything besides games on these things," Melaran mused and decided to check.

There was, and surprisingly, the interface came up in English and not Albrynnian as well. A helpful menu reminiscent of twenty-first century Terran technology came up. Ominously, the Windows logo displayed.

"Windows?" Melaran looked at it in puzzlement, then shrugged and started to poke through and see what the system had stored within.

"Windows? Oh dear," Tarna said. "We're doomed." She sniggered softly.

Through some powerful magic, the systems were still in good working order after several thousand years. In addition to games, he found the colony ship logs as well.

Melaran glanced aside at her quip. "What about it?" he asked, then turned to scan through the logs for anything of interest.

"Er... long story," she said, snickering some more.

The logs were written by the captain of a colony ship which made a rather unpleasant landing on this continent. He didn't know what happened to the two other ships that were coming here, and much of their technology has been damaged, the ship cannibalized for what they could use. He was concerned because an escape pod containing the ship's children was sent off prior to landing, because they feared they would not make it and it would give them the best chance of survival. He thought that the pod landed somewhere in the northern part of the continent.

"Well that would certainly explain the technology evident here," Melaran mused. "And provide another avenue of exploration."

The logs went on to explain how they could not achieve the same level of technology again immediately with the resources at hand, and would start out with farming and agriculture and try to rebuild a civilization. He hoped that the other ships would turn up to help them later, and sealed this chamber in partial stasis with all the information they would need to regain their technology once they could make use of it.

"Hmm, we should get Vicky in here when she's done to sort through the data available," Melaran said. "No telling what else may be hiding in here that I wouldn't even think to look for, or they filed under some bizarre category."

Tarna gave a nod. "This is most intriguing... So this is where the colony ship landed then?" She headed back for the teleporter.

"One of them at any rate," Melaran replied, walking with her. "Where the other two ended up... who can say?"

"I'd venture a wild guess that this ship appears to have carried dark-skinned humans... the central continent, Kalor, is populated mainly by light-skinned humans, except the southern part of it, which was settled by humans from Albrynnia."

"Most likely," Melaran agreed. "Though the escape pod mentioned is a curiosity."

She took the teleporter back to the second floor and went back to where they left Vicky to see how she was doing, pondering still about the mysteries thereof.

Vicky was proceeding at the estimated pace, already having gone through a number of books while they were away. She glanced toward them in question as they return, then retrieved another tome to continue scanning, clearly analyzing the safe arrival and non-emergency approach as sufficient evidence that there was no cause for alarm.

"We found a room with computer terminals left by the original colonists," Tarna said. "Have you found anything yet?"

There were some mentions and rumors in the books, vague and far between, but nothing too concrete.

"Vague referents, little else," Vicky replied, continuing her work as she asked with considerable interest. "A computer system here? I will endeavor to interface with it, infiltrate if there are security protocols initiated."

She didn't pause in the scanning as her mind turned a portion of its attention to the added task. She has little difficulty with accessing the computer systems here, the Windows operating system having security reminiscent of swiss cheese. Was it any wonder why the spaceship crashed?

"Windows?" Vicky blinked, looking away from the book for a moment to her companions in confusion. "What sane entity would use that operating system? It was discarded due to its instability and security issues within a century of its first creation... How odd!" She returned to the book, clearly bemused.

"Indeed," Tarna agreed. "I don't have to wonder at all why their ship crashed..."

"The memory banks will at least be simple to assimilate and retain for later usage," Vicky said. "Including astrogational data which may provide potential sites where the other ships of the colonization fleet landed, along with any ejected modules. Perusing this material will be the time consuming part," she gestured absently to the shelves.

There wasn't any mention in the computer database of a tall, mysterious figure or anyone with three eyes. The initial surveys of the planet found it to be devoid of intelligent life, yet heavy on plant life, hence why it was chosen as a suitable place for colonization. The third ship was supposed to have been bringing animals such as horses and cows to introduce to the planet's ecosystem.

"It would not appear that the colonization records will provide anything of immediate interest in your current endeavor, however," Vicky said, then explains their contents as well as the applicable timeframe which fell well outside the parameters she presumed they were searching for. Historically interesting, without a doubt, and she continued to study them at her leisure for that purpose alone.

And this explains why Lezaria mysteriously seemed to have many animals similar to those of Earth! The second ship was to contain the largest population of settlers, but many of those on the first ship wanted to life apart from them and develop their own culture and civilization. Hence, the second two ships were to land on the middle continent.

Vicky analyzed the likely socio-political ramifications of the data she'd acquired from the computer, likening the arrangement in many ways to a number of different settlements which had evolved as mankind had turned to the stars after departing Terra in her own universe. That provided a thousand other avenues of contemplation which she settled casually to pursuing as she continued with the books.

Several of the books detailed the various causes and phases of the War of Transformation, and the aftermath thereof. The three Changers, Harmony, Amanda, and Sardill, apparently originated from an extended family of farmers on the slopes of Mount Shadowflame, in the northern part of the continent. Many of the mutants created during the war were found to be unwelcome amongst the humans, and most went into willing exile into the wilderness or other continents.

"Mount Shadowflame," Vicky said. "That would appear to be the origin of the creature Harmony, though her appearance is far different than one it was and what might be expected of the human genome. Descendants of the line are likely still residing there, and may possess further information regarding the stranger or this key."

"Perhaps... I doubt it though," Tarna said.

The books went on to describe how Harmony was, indeed, born a human girl, but she allowed her own magic to change her form into ever wilder shapes until she was completely unrecognizable to even her family. And then in another book, it described how they discovered the northern continent, and mentions trees which spoke into people's minds.

"Perhaps not," Vicky agreed. "It has been a considerable span of time and human lines of descent are notoriously fleeting."

"Especially since the Albrynnian Empire fell thousands of years ago and it has been all but abandoned but for wild men and the descendant of the mutants until recently."

"Indeed," Vicky replied, continuing her search with another volume as she finishes the last.

The next one told of how Harmony created a race called the "elves", but a strange side-effect of the transformation was the pasty white skin they had which the writer found very unattractive. However, when Harmony's skill grew, the wild men persuaded her to craft elves who were dark of skin, and thus the wild elves were born.

Vicky couldn't help but chuckle at the writer's affinity, and glanced at her companions for a moment. Their own pale skin was, if perhaps considered more fair than the norm, certainly well within the parameters of 'attractive' where humanity was concerned, and possessing a greater agility as well. She set it aside as another foible of purely biological beings and returned to reading.

There was mention of a man named Tembre Serra, who was a general of the Jastonian army and the first person to be transformed in the War of Transformation, the first mutant, and the first elf upon Lezaria. There was even an illustration of the man taking up an entire page, captioned "Tembre Serra, First Elf". He did bear a distinct resemblance to those she was with.

Vicky wished momentarily for a pre-scanned and categorized copy of this library in its entirety, the sheer mass of data accumulated in the books a thing to envy... but then again, she didn't begrudge the time spent as there was a certain appeal to the project. The atmosphere was oddly soothing and pleasant, as was the weight and feel of the tomes she studied.

But Tembre, it said, went into the mountains to live amongst the wild men, deserting his position and leaving the army of Jaston and Swamp's special forces to search for him. But they never found him.

"The primitive natives might not be such a loss after all," Vicky said, pacing over to show them the book and pointing out the relevant passages.

Tarna said, "No hablo espanol. But I'll take your word for it. What did you find?"

Vicky smiled apologetically, then proceeded to relate what she'd found regarding Tembre Serra, including the likelihood of a greatly extended lifespan and his departure to the wild lands. "A military commander of considerable experience and ability would be unlikely to fall prey to native dangers as long as he remained alert," she concluded.

"Oh, so he just might be in a thousand acres of wilderness if he's even still on this continent, never mind this planet," Tarna said dryly. "But hmm... Perhaps so."

"Locating a mind sufficiently different from the native populace, once a baseline is established," Vicky replied. "Would be very simply achieved. There is little doubt he would have prepared anti-detection measures, but I am certain they could be penetrated."

"If you think you can find him..." Tarna mused. "Do you suppose he could tell us anything of use, if he's even still alive and around?"

"I do not know," Vicky replied honestly, "While he would certainly possess a long span of experiential data, there is little to indicate whether or not Vistri might have passed near enough to be noticed. I mention it only as a possibility."

She didn't address the issue of finding him, as the process she'd mentioned was well within operational parameters when freed of inhibitory programming.

"Well, it's a fair enough lead, at any rate," Tarna said. "See what you can find out, then." She gave a thoughtful look over the illustration of Tembre Serra, his blond hair, gray eyes, and pointed ears.

Vicky, noting her interest, offered the book to Tarna to examine while she turned her attention to the task. Normal operations were never allowed on human minds, but that restriction had been erased by the Eldest. It worried her to a degree, and she considered the ethical implications even as she continued to seek a native to set a baseline which could be used in the broader search.

The wild men of the wilderness were rough and primitive, and their civilized counterparts only marginally less so. Their magical ability was haphazard and unskilled, although they were best with Healing. The civilized Albrynnians refuse to eat meat or build with wood, while the wild men did not have that compuncture.

That would be a simple enough template to exclude from her search, and Vicky set up a filter to deal with that before turning to the more relevant task of finding any trace of a mind more similar to that of her companions.

However, a thorough scan of the continent of Albrynnia revealed nothing matching those parameters. Wild men and wild elves in the forests, minotaurs and centaurs in the mountains to the west across the bay, humans in the cities, with more elves toward the north, but no Tembre Serra, at least not on this continent.

Vicky wasn't particularly concerned by that, setting up a secondary sweep of the continent as a confirmation and then expanding the net to the next continent in line. It was not something she thought about as odd or particularly unusual, having engaged in similar scans across parsecs of space in the past while watching the borders of human territory.

The Sunrise Islands to the east were clearly colonized by humans, partly descendants of the dark-skinned Albrynnians, but also by people of Asian and Pacific islands descent. They possessed a very interesting variety of cultures ranging from an echo of feudal Japan, to ancient Hawaii, and such. But no Tembre there.

Domgad-Festig was inhabited by dwarves, with the waters dominated by a race of violent sharkmen called the Pallistelli. Very few elves or humans there, and definitely no Tembre. However, Kalor, she did locate a possible match in the highlands of the Doralisian peninsula.

"Hmm," Vicky murmured absently, the running processes requiring far more of her attention than they might otherwise were she in her normal form but still well within acceptable limits. "I have a potential match," she said. "I will attempt to confirm identification."

She proceeded to do so, careful of wards and defenses which would signal her presence... more a matter of pride than anything else, infiltration was a specialty. Off by a hut on a cliff high in the Doralis Range, there was an elf. Sitting around just watching birds. The physical description definitely matched, though.

Vicky withdrew quickly, having gained sufficient confirmation for the purpose, and turned her attention to her companions with a nod. "It would appear that he is indeed alive and seemingly well, I can provide the coordinates necessary to reach his location." She tilted her head, summoning the last image for a moment, and smiled quietly. "He was watching birds..."

Tarna smirked faintly and commented, "Well, that sounds like a suitably elvish thing to be doing... Shall we?"

Vicky nodded sharply in assent and walked briskly down the stairs, correctly anticipating Melaran's agreement. He followed, chuckling quietly. Tarna likewise headed off back to where they came in, wondering just what in the Abyss this "first elf" had been up to for the last ten thousand years. He surely couldn't have been bird-watching that entire time.

On returning to the ship, Vicky supplied the coordinates in typical exact fashion, and Melaran took off to head in that direction. Doralis was located on a large peninsula on the northern edge of the central continent of Kalor, partially surrounding the Bay of Scalyr to the west. A range of mountains wove its way down the peninsula, forests and villages and towns sprinkling the landscape. There was barely enough room to land on this cliff, and the elf was pretty surprised at seeing them there.

Melaran was careful in landing, not wanting to weaken the cliff with the weight of the fairly sizeable ship nor cause undue damage to the surrounding terrain. That tended to, he disembarked with Vicky at his heels, and Tarna came along not far behind.

The elf looked over to them, confused and wide-eyed. "Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you find me?" he wondered in puzzlement.

"I am Melaran," he replied, indicating and introducing the others in turn with Vicky being last. "As to why we're here, it's a matter of historical curiosity and hopes that you might know something about someone we're looking for. It's a pleasure to meat you, Tembre Serra."

He blinked for a moment at them and muttered, "Damned Elkandu. I thought I'd kept this place pretty well warded." He sighed and took a seat on a large rock. "Fine, fine. What do you want?"

Melaran laughed lightly, "First off, we're not Elkandu, and the one who found you," he gestured to Vicky, "certainly isn't, though the exasperation seems a common enough reaction where they're concerned."

He seemed a bit relieved at that. "Well, I'm glad of that. The Elkandu are _nothing_ but trouble," he said. "Especially She Who Must Not Be Named."

"Ah, that one," Melaran replied, taking the cue readily enough. "In truth, it's something that she said that led us in this general direction, after a stop at a library on the southern continent. A key was given to her by the one we're looking for."

"A key?" Tembre said, thinking. "Yes, she always worse this strange wooden key around her neck, covered with runes. And the Caverns of Rizzkeer off in the Kedresidon Mountains far to the north..."

Melaran smiled. "See, that's why we came looking for you, once Vicky determined where you were. There's a lot of unknowns in our search, maybe you can fill in some little details like that. What do you know surrounding this key, the caves, or even where it came from or ended up at?"

"Rumor had it that a mysterious stranger gave it to her, pale and tall and covered in heavy cloaks," Tembre said. "The caves... she found these books there, old books, magic books. We didn't know how those books could have gotten there..."

"The books, the key, and the stranger are all of like origin," Melaran replied. "The El'dari have been on this world for a very long time and only recently awakened, all three are tied to them."

"Yes, I had suspected as much, even if I had not seen for certain. I don't believe in mere coincidence," Tembre said. "And I, too, heard the voices of the trees on the northern continent."

"They are distant kin to my own people," Melaran replied. "Which gave reason to look for the one who was lost. Is there anything else you remember which might give an idea as to where the key or stranger may have gone?"

"Hmmm, I do believe I might," he said. "As recently as several hundred years ago, there was rumor of a stranger matching that same description traveling through Doralis. But that he vanished somewhere in these mountains. There are many portals in these mountains. They go to other worlds. If you aren't careful you might get lost and never return..."

"Which would certainly explain his disappearance," Melaran replied thoughtfully, "Discovering his path..." He shook his head.

"There are only a finite number of portals, and most of those portals lead to other worlds nearby in this galaxy," Tembre said. "If he is not in this galaxy any longer, and I would presume not if you were having such difficulty in locating him, perhaps then he had stumbled into one of the few portals which travels further."

"Indeed," Melaran agreed. "That should prove an interesting process of elimination." One he would tie Tarna up to keep her from leaping blindly if he had to, he turned an amused glance in her direction for a moment before continuing. "You have been most helpful and gracious. Thank you."

"Very well. Now that you've scared off all the birds, I believe I shall go eat dinner." He smirked a bit and headed over to his hut.

Melaran chuckled and headed back to the ship, Vicky returning as well but pausing just within the hatch to offer a tepped message to Serra, "My apologies for disturbing your solitude, General. Rest well." She sealed the hatch and moved to settle in as the ship lifted gently.

Tarna said, "So. We've got a needle in a haystack here, but at least that's cut it down from a needle in a whole fricking hayfield. Where do we start?"

"First, the mountains," Melaran replied, turning the ship in that direction. "Then see if we can't find some trace of Vistri someplace. No way I'm going to take a blind Warp hole, no chance at all without some clue."

"Some of them are probably documented on the Eyes of Truth computer," Tarna said. "I know for certain of a portal to Khizsalr from here, to a little remote province called Kylna, for instance."

"I can certainly check what I already received from that source," Vicky said, "and contact the system again if the information is not to be found." She sifted through to see, and would contact the Eyes again if needed.

"That's a start," Melaran replied thoughtfully. "It's the ones that _aren't_ known that worry me, and that's probably where he ended up if no one's been able to find him." He glanced over at Tarna. "Know of any way to determine the destination on a portal like that?" There had to be a way, but nothing leapt immediately to mind.

"...look through it?" Tarna said with a shrug. "These are the sort of portals you don't even realize you're walking through until you notice you're on another planet entirely."

"Right," Melaran grimaced. "Let's try to avoid that if we can, shall we? Don't want to get lost for a hundred thousand years like Vistri, after all."

"Technically, if what Tembre Serra said is actually him, he's only been lost for a few hundred years."

"True," Melaran mused. "Which begs the question of why he didn't wake the El'dari up when he was supposed to..."

"He must have had _some_ good reason.."

"Maybe," Melaran replied. "Or maybe the mutation got to his mind at last. Now isn't _that_ a cheery thought?"

"Well, considering who he gave that key to... Joy, we're going after a needle in a haystack, who may or may not prick us when we find it."

"And you wanted to leave that nice, quiet island," Melaran smirked. "Oh well, one step..." he wagged a finger at her, " _step_ , mind you, not a blind leap, at a time. Mountains first, cross off the known portals, and try to figure out the rest from there. Maybe..." He shook his head.

As it turned out, judging by their scans and comparing to the Eyes of Truth's database of the area, around 38% of the portals in these mountains were documented to where they lead.

"That's not a reassuring percentage," Melaran mused, comparing the data provided by Vicky from the Eyes of Truth and the sensors. "That still leaves a lot of uncovered and potentially very dangerous ground."

"Well," Tarna said, "Couldn't we just send probes through or something and see what we can see?"

"Yeah," Melaran replied thoughtfully. "Though there may be a way to get an idea of where he went... Maybe."

"What have you got in mind?" Tarna asked.

"Haven't exactly had much luck with it lately," Melaran replied with a snort. "But it's possible to scan back through time with the right talents. Using it in a limited area should help, but I dunno."

"Well, couldn't hurt to try it at any rate. Usually," Tarna added.

"It's at least a bit less violent than other things," Melaran replied dryly, "Well let's find a place to land and start checking these out."

The mountains were rough and wild in this region, but he did find a place to land without crushing too many bushes and small trees.

"Get a few probes for redundancy sake," Melaran said, rising and going to do that, "Then off we go. I'll keep a datanode with the locations with me, I'd like you to stay here in case anything goes wrong, Vicky."


	3. The Flickering Crystal

Was it a sign of madness that he was actually having semi-fond memories of times past at the whims of mad gods, Melaran wondered? The quietly peaceful passage of days as they'd gone from one portal to the next, and the next, and the one after that had quickly grown to a rather dull routine as he set to check the local area for any hints of their target's passage. At least the company was nothing to complain of!

They had entered yet another of the seemingly endless networks leading to a grouping of portals, Tarna setting out to work with the remotes as he went about using Time and Seeking to look for any trace... practice, practice, practice.

Even if they did find the right one, there was no guarantee that they'd be able to accurately pick up on that fact. Melaran has no illusions of their chances at finding the proper portal, nor any real confidence in his own ability to do so as the bland, largely unchanging surroundings don't lend themselves well to the delicate task of his seeking. Very frustrating, but... it was better by far than choosing at random and finding themselves lost for hundreds or thousands of years!

But this time, he caught a momentary glimpse of something in his mind's eye, like that of a three-eyed man looking back at him across time and space. The sudden image made him blink, then he tried to focus his attention on it and get any other impressions that he could, anything which might give them so idea if they were on the right track... or if it was a case of someone merely noticing the attention.

"That's odd..." he tepped lightly to Tarna.

It was gone in an instant, but there was definitely something there for the briefest of moments, and clearly imprinted itself upon his memory.

"What is it? Did you get something?" Tarna asked.

"Something," Melaran replied. "Probably just who we're looking for, three eyes and all, but I didn't get anything else out of it." He sighed and began pacing, thoughtful.

"Well, it's at least worth looking into more closely, right?" Tarna replied, peering out at the sensor readings for a few moments.

It was an eerie enough image... it was as though the man was looking directly at him, as if he knew he would come someday. Whether that was good or bad, Melaran couldn't begin to guess, and though it remained at the edges of his thoughts, he took out the instrument they'd been keeping track of the portals with.

"Definitely worth checking further near here," he replied. "Let's see exactly what's around to be looking _at_."

The closest portal was almost hidden behind a half-collapsed tunnel, its entrance covered by rubble and foliage. It would have been impossible to detect from a ground sweep, and only their sensors indicated that it's even there. It had apparently taken some damage due to whatever caused it to collapse, and it was flickering and unstable.

Melaran snorted and double-checks the readings. "How much you want to bet that someone's out there laughing right now at this? Even money says that's a good place to start, and just dangerous enough to make anyone think twice about going through."

"Somehow, it would not surprise me one bit," Tarna replied. "Gonna need to see if we can pick up what might be on the other side, but will need to clear away some of this rubble first, which might just cause it to collapse entirely..."

"We'll just have to be careful about it and hope for the best," Melaran replied. "There's easier ways to do it, but I'm not even going to trust to my own abilities to do it with how unstable they've been. Just our luck to cause some sort of chain reaction."

He shook his head and moved in the direction of the portal to take a look and assess what needs to be done. It'd take some work and effort, but they'd be able to clear away enough of the rubble to get a clear path to the old portal.

Like the other unstable portals they had encountered here, it was reddish-orange rather than crystal clear like a stable portal should be. Many of the other portals around here were stable, or only slightly unstable indicated by a yellow color, or on the verge of collapse indicated by a blood red color. At least it hadn't destabilized to suicidal levels, Melaran mused and set to work on clearing the debris out bit by bit, watchful for any signs that the situation was changing.

Once they got it clear, Tarna looked it over, hands on her hips, and thought, "Well, best send a probe through and see what there might be. Can't see what might be on the other side very well with it so opaque."

"Suddenly the voice of caution and restraint?" Melaran teased, chuckling as he set a remote to do so. The programming had been simple enough and been one of the first things they'd done on this grinding search.

"What, do I look like I frequently rush into dangerous situations without stopping a moment to think them through first?" Tarna commented with a smirk.

"No comment," Melaran replied dryly, a deep fondness underlying it, and set the probe loose to float through the portal. A few minutes should give them an idea when the probe returned, just as a few of them had been definitively unsafe as the probes had simply vanished.

When the probe returned, it didn't really give a clear picture of what might be on the other side. It had come out into a vast crystalline cavern, with multicolored glowing crystals, but the space which it had actually gotten stuck in was fairly small and it couldn't proceed into the rest of the cave. Apparently some of it had collapsed on that side as well.

"Hmm, that's not encouraging," Melaran tepped, sharing the data with her. "Doesn't look like there'd be much room, if any, for a larger object, like an Eldar, to pass through. Even if you could and then teleport past the blockage, no clue what might be waiting beyond that..."

"Hmm... We'd have to clear out the rubble on that side as well, perhaps?"

"And how would we do that from _here_ , any suggestions?" Melaran asked.

If the space was small enough that the probe got stuck, that didn't leave them many options. It would be awfully cramped, but there was room enough to fit and stand up.

Melaran thought about it a moment, and wasn't really pleased by the prospect. "The only option I can think of is sending you through to teleport beyond the rubble and clearing it."

"It could work," she replied, musing over it. "At least it didn't detect anything alive or moving on the other side." It _could_ get some images of the larger cavern, even if it couldn't fit through to get to them.

"Alright then, off to your wild leap, m'lady," Melaran chuckled, "I'll come through precisely two minutes after you go, so don't wait too long. Might be a little _too_ cozy then."

Tarna gave a short nod, and headed through the portal and proceeded to teleport over and get to work. She didn't have any difficulty with the teleportation here, and proceeded to start clearing out the rubble.

Melaran waited precisely as long as he'd said, then stepped through after with a probe tucked under one arm. At least he knew he wasn't claustrophobic, enough trudging and slogging through hulks and the underground lairs of Tyranid had proven that.

Tarna was making a bit of headway against the rubble, also careful not to collapse the portal from this side either. It seems miraculous that it wasn't damaged enough to collapse itself after whatever happened her.

Melaran spent the intervening time adding an additional program to the remote and keying it to their armor's comm channel. It would be left here, and should anything happen, and some warning was allowed, the probe would zip back through and transmit whatever information they'd passed along to it as well as their location to Vicky. Vicky, still aboard the ship and amusing herself in varied ways.

"There, thing I've almost got it enough so you can get through..." Tarna tepped, shoving away a large broken crystal that was half blocking the tunnel with the portal.

Melaran left the probe near the portal itself, then went to try and get through the gap she'd managed to open. Good thing they weren't Orks. The additional bulk might have been useful in shifting all the rocks but a definite disadvantage for this! It was opened enough now that he could manage to slip through.

The crystalline cavern was really quite breathtaking, a faint glow emanating from many of the crystals in different colors. Melaran performed some basic environmental scans, background radiation levels and the like, and glanced around.

"Pretty enough place, though where we are..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

There was a faint level of radiation in the area, but nothing they couldn't handle readily enough. Some tunnels led off in various directions from the large cavern.

Melaran absently set the scanner to detecting what it could as to the tunnel routes and destinations, as well as anything else that might prove beneficial or harmful. Several of the tunnels wound off into twisty mazes of passages all alike. One led off toward a vast underground lake with islands lit by crystals overhead.

He then tried his hand at the temporal seeking again for any clues. He got another flash of the three-eyed man for a couple seconds, who seemed to look to him, then looked in the direction of the tunnel with the lake. Melaran wasn't quite sure what to make of all that yet, but figured that the one distinctive passage was as good a place to start looking as any other.

"I think we're on track," he tepped, gesturing toward the tunnel in question. "Just got another weird image..."

He shook his head and headed in that direction. Tarna gave a slight nod and headed off after him. The tunnel wound around a bit and opened up onto the shore of the vast lake. The water was fresh and crystal clear, lit by numerous glowing crystals along the ceiling as well as some along the floor of the lake itself. Some crystalline islands jutted out from the water of various sizes.

"At least we won't have to build a boat or go swimming," Melaran tepped, holding an arm out to her. "Shall we go and see what can be found on these islands?"

"Certainly," she replied with a grin, taking his arm and putting her own arms around him.

The water was completely still. Nothing appeared to be moving or growing within it, not even algae or microbes. Very peculiar.

Melaran scooped her up securely, not minding in the least, and leapt into the air to begin an aerial reconnaissance of the islands. The very peculiarity of the water tended to make him wary of it from old habit. Anything out of the ordinary in physical terms often spelling danger. There didn't even seem to be any sediment to spoil the perfect clarity of the water. The islands were beautiful crystal formations of various shapes and colors, but also devoid of life.

Melaran did another sweep, this time nearer the walls of the cavern in search of any other passages which might lead away from this one. Failing that... he supposed they'd need to start mapping out the maze of corridors back where they'd started.

The lake was quite vast and spread out for at least a mile in the open cavern. Near the center of the lake, he spotted something flickering in the relative darkness, as it was further from the lights on the ceiling or floor of the lake, but most of the crystals gave a steady glow, not a flickering one.

"Now what is that?" Melaran asked rhetorically and went to get a closer look at the source of the light.

A large purple crystal flickered, pulsating in a deep, faint light and sending rays of violet color across the mirror-like surface of the water.

"Far be it from me to dismiss a beacon in the darkness," Melaran tepped, though clearly reluctant and wary, and circled nearby to look for a place to land and take a look at the thing on a closer level.

There was a relatively flat area of island around it, and it stood up at least twelve feet in the center of this island. Tarna climbed off him and peered at the thing. "Well..."

 

"Well indeed," Melaran agreed, eyeing the thing, then turned the scanner to it to see what could be found. "Eldar use a lot of crystals, and I've seen some like this used in construction of containment facilities, but never saw anything like it in a natural state."

Tarna went over and touched the crystal, and wavered for a moment as the crystal brightened. Melaran looked toward her sharply as the crystal reacted, then leapt quickly over to pull her away from the thing.

Tarna collapsed into his arms and the crystal returned to its faint pulsations. "Ungh, what was that?"

"I don't know," Melaran replied, holding her close. "But I retract my earlier lack of comment. Don't _ever_ touch something you don't recognize, no matter how shiny it is."

Humans had done far too much of that and unleashed things best left to sleep... He turned his attention sharply back to the crystal and sent out a tendril of Seeking to check if there was anything to discern of it that way. The thing definitely has a very strong magical presence, almost as if it were alive in a way. It drew at him, seeming to want to pull him in, to coax him into embracing it. Melaran was quick enough to react to _that_ , the wings of his armor blurring to life as he scooped her back up and leapt into the air once more to head to a nearby island and set down.

"That..." he tepped, shaking his head to clear it of the siren song.

Tarna shook her head out as well unconsciously, peering over across the water at the flickering crystal. "What is it?"

Melaran set her gently back to her feet, an arm remaining to steady her and maintain contact. "I don't know," he replied honestly, "though it's got a lot of magic tied up in it and seemed almost alive, maybe..." He trailed off, poking at the mystery a bit. "Stronger psychic shields may protect against it, but I'm not sure I want to trust to it."

Tarna took a step toward the edge of the island, toward the flickering crystal, stumbling a bit. "It is so very beautiful..."

Melaran grimaced and began weaving tighter the threads which danced between the two of them, working to strengthen the shielding he normally kept in place. "Beautiful and I think dangerous, m'lady," he tepped. "Look at me!" The last was sharp, almost a mental slap designed to drag her attention away from looking at the thing.

She blinked, shaking her head out and turning away from the crystal sharply to look at him. "Bloody hell, it's hypnotic..."

"Yeah," Melaran agreed, carefully avoiding looking that way for now as he continues working. "That doesn't lend much hope that there's a benevolent purpose behind it. You don't usually see that kind of lure in anything but predators. Could it have gotten our wayward El'dari?"

"I don't know. They seemed to think he was stronger than that... but perhaps... _I'm_ a pretty strong telepath and it's affecting me like my shields are nothing..."

"Or it might not be telepathy-based at all," Melaran replied. "It's not exactly natural. There's nothing saying that it couldn't have developed an ability more along the lines of Speech mixed with... hmm. Could that be it? The light?"

"It's entirely possible... the Elkandu might know a lot about different forms of magic, but there's still things they're discovering all the time..."

"Sound and light aren't that different, from a universal perspective," Melaran replied thoughtfully. "And that would explain why it seemed to have such an allure to its beauty... and utterly ignore any shielding. Barring that though, and a bit of distance between us, let's see if that feeling of 'living' was accurate."

Closing his eyes, he turned back to face the thing and extended a mental tendril toward it, seeking.

A whispering mental voice replied, "Come to me... Give yourself to me... Surrender... Surrender..."

"Not a chance," Melaran grated, having _zero_ intention of leaving the comparative safety of the island and Tarna. "What are you? Why do you want us?"

The voice didn't respond to his questions, continuing, "I will give you all you ever dreamed of... all you ever imagined... joy beyond that which you could ever hope for... if you only surrender yourself to me..."

"I've heard _that_ line before," Melaran sent to it, the plea sounding far too much like the blandishments of Chaos for his tastes. He shut it out, turning back to Tarna. "Watch over me, I'm going to try something a little more... direct on the persuasion side. It's definitely alive."

Unshouldering his rifle, he drew a deep, cleansing breath, then turned to aim it at an edge of the thing. Tarna frowned deeply, wondering just what sort of consequences this was going to engender, and stood back.

Melaran fired a single shot, intending to send one of the hypervelocity, mono-molecular edged shurikens of the rifle to cause a chip in the thing. He readied himself mentally for any reaction that might arise... It was far more dramatic than even he might have feared. The entire crystal shuddered, and the perfectly still water ripples, and the entire cavern seemed to vibrate for several long moments.

"Oh... my..." Melaran tepped, looking around with sudden worry. "This whole thing... alive?" The sheer enormity of the possibility was stunning, and very unnerving as that would place them in the belly of some great beast...

A surge of water lapped up around their feet. But the vibrating stopped, and when it did, the purple crystal was there with a long crack running halfway through it, its flickering more frenetic and urgent, more uneven. Melaran was no longer sure of the wisdom of the idea, but couldn't just abandon the idea entirely after that.

"What are you?" he sent out toward it. "I think that should have gotten your attention, and made my refusal clear."

The crystal flickered unsteadily, and replied only in heavy silence, telepathic silence so clear that it was clear that it was definitely silence.

Melaran sighed and turned away from it. "So much for this path, now I have to wonder what I saw was anything more than imagination." He shook his head and stalked to the opposite side of the island, thinking.

"I would rather doubt that," Tarna replied, frowning over at the flickering crystal.

The crystal's voice touched Melaran again, whispering, "Help me... please... I hurt... I am in pain..."

Melaran felt a stab of guilt at the contact. He'd never intended that spectacular an effect. How long had this thing been down here? How many countless years had it taken to evolve? And then... he sighed softly and opened his mind to the communication. "Tell me what I can do..."

"Come to me... touch me... give yourself to me..." the voice whispered some more. "I will not harm you..."

Melaran gritted his teeth, not liking that answer at all, but walked quietly over to Tarna and offers her the rifle. "I have to help it," he tepped to her. "I'll try and leave a link open, but if you need to..." He shrugged, indicating the rifle.

Tarna frowned deeply, and gave a short nod, taking it and looking warily over toward the cracked crystal. Melaran hugged her briefly, then stepped back and leapt into the air once more to cross to the crystal's island. He couldn't help feeling this is a mistake, a trap much like Chaos might use, and yet... he delayed by removing his armor's gauntlets, then hesitantly touched the smooth surface of the crystal.

The crystal glowed brightly, seeming to draw in some of his energy, and there was a loud snapping sound echoing through the silent cavern as the crack repaired itself. There was a very clear and strong presence in his mind, very soothing and pleasant.

Melaran didn't trust it, but lent himself to the task willingly, watchful and wary for any sign or hint that even a flicker of control would assert itself... and hoping he'd have the opportunity and ability to deflect it if it came.

"Relax... I will not harm you..." The crystal appeared whole again, glowing brightly and steadily, waves of soothing light washing through him and around him gently.

Melaran drew away from the contact and turned his back on the crystal, replacing his gauntlets. 'Why should I trust that?' he asked bluntly, the earlier experience clear in his mind.

The light dimmed as he breaks physical contact with the crystal. "It would not be beneficial to me to bring harm upon those within my power," it replied smoothly. "Life... it has been so long since I have felt life..."

"Within your power?" Melaran replied tightly, relaying the thread of conversation and continuing to do so.

"Oh, yes. You are here, are you not? You are not without, you are within. Do not fear. I thrive off life... not pain or death."

That wasn't exactly reassuring. "You said something about it being a long time since you last encountered life," Melaran sent, "Would that have been this one?" He drew the image of the three-eyed man from his mind and shared it with the crystal.

"Yes... yes... I remember that one... long ago... so long ago... But he would not join his life essence to me, and went on toward the surface, alone..."

"He did? Which way?" Melaran asked energetically, then added, "We need to find him. Tell me and I'll offer more before we go..."

"Across the lake and up through the tunnels, the far side of the lake from the portal. There is a tunnel there that leads up toward the surface..."

Melaran stored the information away, then true to his word removed a gauntlet again and hesitantly touched the crystal to offer what he can in exchange for the information. The crystal flickered again for a moment and brightened, and he felt a rush of pleasure and happiness wash through him. But it seems to be actually the feeling of the crystal itself, not an enticement to encourage him to do so.

"Thank you..." the crystal whispered.

Melaran nodded once as he drew away. "You're welcome. I'm sorry there's nothing else we can do for you."

He put the gauntlet back on, then leapt back to the other island, still not really trusting the crystal regardless of its seeming 'harmless' intent. When he reached the other island, he noticed that the pulsing of the purple crystal was slower now, more even and brighter. It seemed almost like a heartbeat, or breathing. Tarna went over to him.

"Let's get out of here," Melaran tepped to her. "At least we know we're on the right track for sure now." He took the rifle and secured it at his back once more, then offered his arm. "I don't want to test fate, though. Would've been a lot more trusting if it had answered the first time."

Tarna put an arm around him and held on tightly. "At least it didn't really do anything to you... I hope..."

On the far edge of the lake, there was a tunnel leading sharply upward, so positioned that it would have been hard to spot if he hadn't known what he was looking for.

"So do I, love, so do I..." Melaran replied, though he couldn't have denied it in good conscience after... he returned to the air and made the journey to the tunnel the crystal had revealed, intent on getting as far away as possible as quickly as possible.

 

The tunnel was narrow and broken, a difficult climb, and it was a long, long way up from here. With how small it was and all the irregular twists and turns it kept making, just flying up wasn't really an option either.

"This should be fun," Melaran remarked, chuckling. "Slow and easy does it."

He gestured Tarna to go ahead of him, then followed after. Tarna climbed up through the tunnel, crawling in places, climbing in others, almost walking in some. But slowly and surely, they got out of the crystal caverns, and it grew darker as fewer crystals light their way. Light thankfully wasn't a problem with their armor, a good thing considering the difficulty of the passage. Melaran idly wondered along the way just how far beneath the surface they started out, anyway!

When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, they must have climbed at least a mile. When they climbed out onto the surface, they saw a desolate landscape, the starry sky lit by an enormous dim red star. There were no visible signs of life.

"Well, this is certainly anticlimactic," Melaran remarked blandly, turning sensors to the task of seeking anything more than the merely visible might suggest.

The radiation levels were much higher on the surface, and the star seemed to be very old, nearing the end of its lifespan. The gravity levels weren't too strong, this was a smaller planet than Terra, and was most likely one of the rocky outer planets of this system if it survived the sun expanding into a red giant. The only sign that anything might have once lived here was an atmosphere generator some miles away... still diligently pumping out oxygen and nitrogen into the sky. There weren't any signs of native plant or animal life, or for that matter non-native plant or animal life.

Melaran gazed thoughtfully in the direction of the generator, then looked over to Tarna. "I'm not overly fond of heading toward the single oddity on the map, but it doesn't look like there's much else to recommend this place. Care to take a look?"

Times like this made him glad he'd trained in the Swooping Hawk Aspect, sure beat the Guardian's slogging across the landscape endlessly! There were certainly advantages... you couldn't have fit a ship down that tunnel, after all. Tarna nodded and went and put an arm around him with a grin. Melaran chuckled, thinking there were certain other advantages, making sure she was not going anywhere and then hopping into the air to streak toward the site.

He didn't land immediately, taking advantage of the height to do a bit of observation on the nearby area. It appeared that it was once part of some sort of base, perhaps a mining colony, but there wasn't much left of it, meteorites having reduced most of the outer buildings to twisted masses of debris, leaving only the more heavily shielded atmosphere generator and command center intact.

Melaran set down lightly near the command center and returned Tarna to terra firma... at least he hoped so, the last thing they needed was an earthquake. He smirked at the thought. Now he was just getting paranoid.

"What a mess," he remarked, looking around. "Maybe something in here will provide a clue of some kind." He looked around for a way into the structure.

There were no earthquakes. In fact, all things considered, it didn't appear that the planet is tectonically active at all, no molten core. It would have been a completely dead world, so far as normal life was concerned, if someone hadn't decided to stick a mining base out here. The place looked like it hadn't been occupied in ages. Centuries? Millennia? Maybe even millions of years.

Melaran continued looking for a way into the command building, hopeful that something within might give them an idea as to the destination of their elusive quarry... or even a sign that he'd been there. Who knew?

There appeared to be a door. Untold ages of disuse and lack of central power had left it set in the closed position, however. The emergency manual override handle, however, was sufficient to get it moving though, sliding the heavy door open.

"I'll go first," Melaran tepped, only half-teasing as he drew his rifle and stepped warily within. "I expect you to shoot whatever leaps out of the shadows to eat me..." he paused, then growled mentally. "Damn Bob, now I have these scenes from something I've never seen running through my head that look a lot like Tyranid and some woman saying to 'nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure'. Pranksters, ugh." He continued inward.

Tarna blinked for a moment, smirked, and heads inside. The inside of the place seemed just as dead as the outside, even the automated lighting systems failed to come on when they failed to detect movement. But the main terminal and the atmosphere generator were still running off the auxiliary power generators. How long they'd been at this was anyone's guess.

Melaran headed for the terminal to see what can be found in it, if anything. This planet was looking like a dead-end, but he _knew_ the guy had come this way, so where...?


	4. Abandoned World

Tarna and Melaran were on a dead world that didn't look like it had ever supported normal life, with an atmosphere generator left ages ago by miners or colonists, and a terminal that was for some reason still more or less working properly, apparently. Must not be running Windows.

Melaran hoped that this was a stereotypical case where all languages were readily available to the viewer rather than the oddity they'd encountered back at the library, that in mind he took a look at the terminal to see what could be found.

The terminal was displaying a cheerful readout with meters of current atmospheric and such conditions, all helpfully labeled in Spanish.

"Gibberish to me," Melaran muttered, glancing over to Tarna, "Can you make anything out of it?" Next time he was taking along their handy self-propelled computer.

Tarna looked at it, and laughed aloud and said, "That's... Spanish. Funny. Yeah, it's monitoring the atmospheric content and pressure..."

Melaran stepped away from it and gestured her to it. "Would m'lady care to see if there's anything more than monitoring information within? Any sort of records would be nice, particularly an access log if there's one to be found."

That would give them an idea whether or not the terminal had been used in the last billion years at least. Tarna gives a nod and poked at it a bit.

The screen changed a few times and Tarna frowned and said, "The databases are pretty well degraded. It doesn't appear to have been used recently, though."

"Looks like this is a dead-end then," Melaran muttered. "I have no clue why our missing El'dari would've vanished for so long if he had the ability to just transport himself wherever he wished, but there's not a hell of a lot else up here to give an idea otherwise."

"Maybe he didn't transport himself..."

"I didn't see anything else on our way up here, but..." Melaran shrugged, looking around. "May as well dig around and see if we can't find _something_ to work with."

"Well, of course if he left here in a ship, it wouldn't still be here!" She chuckled softly at the apparent obviousness of it.

Melaran chuckled quietly. "True enough, but without any record of there being a ship here in yon bubble-headed machine, that's just speculation. And if there was..." He shook his head, "Not much hope of following _that_ way."

"Well, all we'd need to do is go back and bring the ship here, of course, and then see about finding a needle in a haystack, rather than a needle in a hundred acre hayfield."

Melaran coughed. "Um, well, yes that would seem simple enough... if most of the way we'd come wasn't smaller than our ship could ever hope to fit through." He chuckled quietly.

Tarna rolled her eyes. "Duh, we cast 'where the hell am I' to get the coordinates and fly it here."

"Where the hell am I...?" Melaran offered with a hint of puzzlement.

"Seeking spell. It does just what it says," Tarna chuckled.

"An... interesting concept," Melaran mused. "Then by all means."

Tarna proceeded to cast the spell, and frowned a bit. "Well, we're certainly way out in the boonies."

"Unsurprising," Melaran replied. "I didn't exactly expect to be traveling the core systems in our search, considering no one could locate him."

"So um... how fast _is_ that ship, exactly?" Tarna said with a smirk, leaning back against a wall that creaked a bit ominously.

"That good, eh?" Melaran chuckled and crossed over to her. "Let's backtrack and take it from there. It's not like we have pressing business elsewhere anyway. Time's not that much a concern."

Tarna chuckled and gave a nod, heading back toward the tunnel again. So back they went, cross barren plain to tunnel dark, through crystal cave and returning toward the unstable portal they'd begun this little trek through. Melaran wasn't particularly interested in encountering the crystalline entity again and gave it as wide a berth as possible. All in all, probably a hell of a lot faster than the trip out this far had been.

Nothing had collapsed, blown up, gone mad, caved in, or otherwise decided to inconvenience them on the way back. Tarna climbed back through the portal and returned to the ship. Melaran collected the remote they'd left behind on the way back, continuing onward after to return to the ship.

"Your search proved unsuccessful?" Vicky asked as they entered, though not immediately moving from one of the seats where she seemed engaged on one level or another with the intricacies of the ship systems.

"Well, we know he's been there, just not where precisely he might be right now..." Tarna said, going over to put in the coordinates of the location into the ship. "We're gonna need to fly there, as he's certainly not on the planet we landed on."

"I see," Vicky replied absently, tracing the coordinates that Tarna entered and assembling them against the various astrographic and ephemeral maps she had collected.

Melaran removed his helm and settled in for the flight. "Well at least it's a start."

The ship rose with a smooth hum of power toward the skies above. Apparently, it was going to take three months to get over there.

Tarna muttered, "If he's not there after all that when we get there, I'll kill him."

Melaran laughed lightly. "It's not so bad, just consider it part of the uncollected vacation we were promised. Besides..." He rose with a sigh and stretched, checking one last time to make sure everything was as it should be. "It'll be good time to practice." The thought brought a grimace, but...

Tarna chuckled and looked at him and said, "Something wrong?"

"No, of course not," Melaran replied with a quiet smile, then looked over to Vicky. "You get first watch, I'll relieve you later."

Vicky looked from one to the other of them without expression, then simply nodded in reply. Tarna shrugs and headed back, vaguely wondering what the problem seemed to be. Melaran headed back to their odd little bubble universe, not really paying attention to the scenery as he removed his armor. That carefully set aside, he settled to his knees, closes his eyes, and drifted...

Tarna went over and sat down next to him and tepped quietly, "What's the problem, really?"

Melaran's eyes flickered open and turned to her, perhaps thinking or merely delaying. "I'm not sure," he replied softly, turning his gaze away and looking blankly around them. "Nothing. Everything. Something?"

"Well, that's amazingly nonspecific," Tarna replied with a gentle smile. "Tell me about it."

"You're going to poke and prod endlessly unless I do, aren't you?" Melaran asked, though without rancor or exasperation.

Tarna chuckled softly, and curled up next to him. "Would you expect any less?"

"No," Melaran replied, slipping an arm around her, a gentle warmth accompanying the mental contact. "But I'm not really sure just what it is, either. There's just times lately where I don't trust or _want_ to trust what I know I can do. It's not rational, but there it is."

"But nonetheless, it's a part of you, as much as your hand or eye might be."

"Perhaps, but neither hand or eye is going to turn on me or someone else," Melaran replied darkly.

"Neither will your power, once you've learned to fully control it," Tarna replied, sighing softly. "That you'd _have_ to learn to control it is an indication of its strength. I never did. I had to learn to use it at all, but it was too weak to ever leave my control. Had to build up strength on my own through long use."

"And if I refused it?" Melaran asked, then sighs softly. "But I can't do that either, since it could be just what's needed to keep what's important safe. Just seems a no-win situation in some ways."

"Once awakened, it cannot be denied, not at Elkandu-level inborn power. It's there, whether you want it or not, and you'd better be able to handle it or it'll come back and bite you in the ass."

"Oh yeah, I realized that one recently," Melaran replied quietly. "That's what got me thinking about it in the first place, and whether I can trust the damn thing at all... I didn't even have much hope for being able to find any hint of our quarry back there."

"That will come in time," Tarna tepped. "Nobody became a master swordsman overnight, either. I'm personally surprised you got anything relevant at all."

"So practice, practice, and more practice." Melaran chuckled, then sighed, continuing quietly, "I don't fear death, it's part of how I was trained and where I grew up, but that tournament made me realize a really frightening thing as I woke up and watched the rest of that match..."

"Quite so," Tarna replied. "The competition isn't just for fun and entertainment, but also for learning, learning what real mage-combat is like without the risk..."

Melaran shook his head slowly. "I'm not afraid of what it might do to _me_ , Tarna, that's what's really... I don't know."

"But I do," Tarna tepped, squeezing him gently.

"Okay, okay," Melaran replied, forcing himself to relax and donning a thin smile. "I'll keep at it, but on one condition..." He reached out to touch her cheek gently. "If it ever looks like it's out of control, you run like hell."

"I'm quite fully capable of handling myself, yes."

Melaran smirked. "That's never been in question, nor doubt, or any other possible shadow that could be defined that way. Now, whether or not you'd _do_ it is another story..."

"What do you think?" Tarna replied with a smirk.

"That I'm going to have to make sure the decision never comes up." Melaran chuckled softly. "You win, as always, I'll keep working at it and just have to hope."

Tarna chuckled, and leaned back, stretching. "And plenty of time for that, no doubt."

"Tell me again why you talked us into going on this crazy quest." Melaran quirked a brow, watching her with a smile, knowing full well that he'd been the one to poke his nose into it... and wasn't really sure just why.

"I didn't, honestly!" Tarna replied. "It was all your idea!"

"Funny, I don't remember that," Melaran replied, a deliberately puzzled expression emerging as he scratched his chin. "And it would certainly seem to be in line with all the other wild and half-baked ventures you've dragged me into..."

"Hey, I never dragged you into anything. Well, much. How was I to know we were going to hit a Warp storm and end up in another universe entirely?"

Melaran dispensed with the facade and grinned, poking her lightly in the side. "True, but you seem to be this absolute _magnet_ for insanity, or maybe it's just a knack for finding all the 'interesting' trouble to get into. Tsk, what would people say were they to learn what a corruptive influence you are upon poor, innocent Eldar?"

Tarna gave him the most innocent look she could manage, and replied, "It's not my fault!"

Melaran laughed. "I'm sure that's what they all say, and I'm afraid I see right through _that_." His mirth dimmed, a fond smile emerging. "They'd think I was crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Except maybe..." he looked thoughtful, "without the added 'help' of certain crazy gods who think I should know that Han didn't shoot first. Agh!"

Tarna blinked at him and replied, "Whaaaat?"

"It's not my fault..." Melaran smirked and shook his head. "Not to mention the innocent look, and then it just pops out of nowhere about this Han Solo. Really going to have to have a talk with a prankster at some point."

"Clearly..." Tarna laughed aloud and settled in for the trip. "Well, best get started, no time like the present, eh?"

"Slave-driver," Melaran replied with false grumbling, but did indeed settle in to deal with the matter at hand... idly wondering what the hell this El'dari had been doing all the way out here and how much further out into the depths of _nowhere_ it was going to take them. Three months. Plenty of time.


	5. Holy Four-Arms

Tarna hadn't really minded the idea of three months alone on a ship with her present company, and was sure to find plenty of ways to pass the time between training and whatnot. But eventually it came to a close as they approached the distant galaxy where they had traced Vistri's movements toward, far beyond the span of the Interdimensional Bridge. It was a spiral galaxy, but a fair scan indicated that it wasn't an analog to the Milky Way at all as many of the places visited by the Elkandu had been, but was instead something else entirely.

Vicky had spent the intervening period split between training with the others, finding that ranged weapons apparently fell under the same set of reflexes as they did in her other form and required no work whatsoever. Melee or unarmed, on the other hand, she was woefully unprepared for, but she applied herself gamely to whatever was needed and enjoying the exercise as much as the interaction.

Other chunks of time had been left to the solitude of the others without question asked or more than a quietly amused thought, and processing power was turned to the strange phenomena she'd encountered while keeping in touch with the computer aboard the Eyes of Truth. Distance, whether spatial or dimensional, made no difference, and she dedicates many cycles in fascinated theorizing and experimentation.

Melaran had not objected to the journey in the least, even if it had been in the middle of a self-determined mission... in the current setting and company, it worked well as the delayed vacation they'd been meaning to get back to for a while now. A good opportunity to strengthen his skills and temper his mental-emotional state in the enjoyable company.

The end of the trip wasn't wholly disagreeable, though, and he returned to the cockpit with a genuine enthusiasm at the prospect of being on the move again.

Recognizing the fey mood, he grinned at Tarna. "You are a horrible influence." Then after a fond kiss on the cheek turned to examine just where they've found themselves.

"Well, here we finally are, we just have a whole galaxy to look through now instead of the entire multiverse," Tarna said brightly.

They have emerged from hyperspace at the coordinates given, in the system with the old, dying red giant and the long-abandoned mining base.

"I've devoted some thought to the problem," Vicky said casually.

Her speech patterns had been deliberately altered along the way from their more original formal nature to ones nearer her companions, a fascinating process that she'd gone about with a quiet glee at the potential available to the oddly flowing capabilities she'd discovered in the organic brain.

"It shouldn't be difficult at all to trace the path of the ship," she continued. "The weather station you mentioned probably has sensor records of the departure, and even if it doesn't there should be another computer somewhere that dealt with the comings and goings of similar craft. A general angle can be deduced from that, and then a careful analysis of spatial conditions, factoring in the time differential, should be readily deduced from there. It may require a little time, but definitely doable," she finished with a bright certainty, even though the variables involved would probably stagger most people. Now, that interesting woman she'd met, Suzcecoz, she'd probably grasp the fine points of it.

Melaran just looked at Vicky, then to Tarna with a smirk. "Right."

Tarna stared at her blankly for a moment and said, "If you say so." She went to land at the rocky planet near the station they had examined previously.

Vicky grinned at the reactions, expecting no less really, and set cheerfully to work on the necessary equations and calculations. She'd tap into the weather system controller to see what data it possessed, as well as search for any other system that would have potential data to refine the possible vectors. A satellite would be ideal, but she didn't count on it. As that set in motion, she mused on a growing fondness for her company.

Melaran settled in and set about to putting the sensors to work, scanning the planet in depth as well as space nearby.

The systems were old and not fully functional, however she did manage to tap into it and find its records after a bit of effort. The last ship on the records was a strange design that the station's computer identifies as a Taburi scout ship that had been left behind on the planet when it was abandoned. The most likely trajectory would have Vistri heading off toward a star the station calls Balagon.

Vicky hummed an old martial tune to herself as she works, refining the data as much as possible before turning it over for the others to examine. "That looks like our best bet, though what we'll find there is anyone's guess. The machinery here is in abominable repair, I can't imagine anything there will be any better."

"Well, at least this 'Balagon' star doesn't look like it's about to collapse in on itself any millennium," Tarna commented. "Best bet at any rate."

Melaran looked it over and shrugged. "I'd be willing to place the bet on it, considering the number-cruncher narrowing it down." He chuckled. "So off to Balagon it is."

Tarna proceeded to set a course and head off in that direction. "At least this one won't be a three month wait, eh?"

"Drat." Melaran sighed, then grinned and settled in for the wait.

Vicky just chuckled good-naturedly and continued to poke about for any other signs of the vanished ship, via mundane means as well as the methodical approach of scanning with her in-built Seeking. There aren't any immediate signs or engine trails or the like, but after several hundred years that was hardly surprising. Long-range sensors, however, indicated that while the Taburi base was abandoned, life in the galaxy went on.

The station didn't have much information still on the Taburi themselves, but signs indicated that they were probably long extinct, at least in this part of the galaxy if nothing else. Balagon was an average yellow star orbited by six planets, one of which had an earth-like terrain.

"Hmm, that'd probably be our boy's next stop," Melaran said, looking at the habitable world.

"Unless there's an asteroid base or other out-system facility," Vicky countered and checked for the possibility.

There weren't any bases, artificial satellites, or stations around the system. Although the third planet showed signs of intelligent life, it appeared to be at a pre-industrial level yet.

"Well that's odd," Vicky said thoughtfully, turning her attention fully to the planet and looking for signs of the missing spacecraft. "Pre-industrial civilization, so what would Vistri seek there?"

Melaran looked at the readouts, considering, then hmmed. "Maybe he was looking for some out of the way, peaceful place to retire? Or just a stopover?"

From a closer readout, it seemed that the dominant species of this planet appeared to be a four-armed monkey-like race. There was no sign on the planet itself of the missing ship, nor of any three-eyed El'dari.

"Hmm," Melaran tapped his fingers thoughtfully on a console. "No sign of our wanderer, or anything of a high enough technology level to provide a clue. I'd say that only leaves whatever the natives might remember, but who knows how long ago he passed through here? Not to mention whether they'd be particularly friendly or not."

"Well, it's worth a shot at any rate. We'll just have to be ready to duck thrown spears or something."

Melaran smirked. "Fine, fine, let's just hope that's all they have to throw around if they're not feeling friendly." He looked at the planetary scan and tapped an area near one of the native concentrations. "Looks like a decent enough place to land, and shouldn't stir them up too much."

Just in case, he worked on the weaves of their shields and bound them tightly together for greater flexibility. Landing down there, in a wide clearing in an open forest near one of their settlements, it became evermore clear just how alien this place is. The arboreal formations looked like trees at a casual glance, but up close it became clear that there were distinct differences, the smooth bluish-purple "bark" of the trees and the irregular, cloud-shaped leaves.

Melaran examined the landscape when he climbed out of the ship, absently checking his weapons as he did so. He'd seen stranger ecosystems, and he still found a distinct appeal to the endless variety the various universes seemed intent on providing the traveler. A glance to check that Tarna and Vicky were ready satisfied him and he walked off in the direction of the settlement.

Vicky, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to perform detailed bioscans on the local flora and any hints of fauna she could find to be stored away for analysis, while another train of thought drew comparisons between it and other bio-systems she'd encountered in her own journeys. Overall though, she was just glad for the change of scenery. Getting off the ship and stretching her legs felt _good_!

A group of three of the four-armed natives spotted them as they approach, and they immediately started babbling in some unfamiliar language that seemed as much gesture as verbal. They then made some gestures at them with one pair of arms held high with the palms facing away from them, and the other pair folded back their backs.

Remembering the library and Vicky's affinity for language and translation, Melaran chuckled and motioned the woman forward. "I think they're talking to you."

Vicky was already studying them and placing phonemes as they were encountered, working toward identifying a frame of reference when compared with the verbal components. She looked briefly away in startlement at the interruption, "Oh, sure," she grinned.

Tarna said, "Could just as easily do a quick mind-scan for language base." She shrugged.

"Oh, that's an interesting idea!" Vicky replied with cheerful enthusiasm, and did so.

That particular use of her abilities was still a bit odd to her, after so long assuming that it worked solely on machines. She continued with the manual translation as she did so, piecing together the combined data sources with glowing satisfaction. Although the ape-like humanoids had a different physiology, it was sufficiently similar to get a basic idea of what they were trying to say. Apparently, it was something involving "The Holy Two-Arms has returned!"

Vicky stifled a giggle at that, maintaining an admirably serious expression as she translated that and provided a stream of the compiling language to Tarna and Melaran's minds. "I'd say he was definitely here," she says.

"So it appears," Tarna commented. The four-armed apes continue to babble on that, as foretold by the Holy Three-Eyes Two-Arms, after one hundred and forty-four turnings of the Holy Bright Sphere, the Two-Arms would return to the Holy Tree-Place.

"Quite the precog," Melaran muttered, and not for the first time wondered just what Vistri was up to... and why he seemed to _want_ to be followed. He listened closely, nodding as a few points refined themselves as Vicky continued to work on a complete understanding of the language and fed updates through.

Apparently, the Balagites, who called themselves something completely unpronounceable which involved some complex gestures with their four three-fingered hands, wanted them to come visit their Holy Temple and talk to the Holy Important Person.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Melaran said quietly, though turned a questioning look to his companions for their opinion... at least as good an idea as anything they'd done recently, he laughed inwardly.

Vicky immediately agreed, completely happy to pursue the fascinating endeavor further, and looked at Tarna for confirmation, ready to relay a response either way. Tarna nods and with as much of an affirmative response as she could manage with only two hands, the Balagites got the picture and led them off eagerly to the "Holy Temple", which was apparently a large building constructed of bluish-purple wood from the native trees.

"If I see signs of a blood-soaked altar or sharp instruments, I'm leaving," Melaran quipped, but followed along readily enough and studied the world with interest in passing. He had to wonder just what Vistri had done to invoke this kind of reaction, enough to hold out over a century and a half.

There was a very old Balagite in the temple, with a large headdress made of wood and feathers. His eyes went wide when they entered, and he began gesturing and babbling at them. "The Holy Two-Arms! But these Two-Arms are Two-Eyes also. Three-Eyes told us you would come on this year. Welcome!"

Melaran had adjusted as well as could be expected to the language, a particularly useful aspect of having a detail-obsessive Vicky around working at the problem and providing detailed analyses and refinements. Thankfully she'd stopped when the percentage of errors was within 'tolerable limits'. 

"Thank you," he replied with a nod. "We are still following in the path of the Holy Two-Arms with Three Eyes."

"The Holy Three-Eyes came here one hundred and forty turnings of the Holy Bright Sphere past this year, and he stayed for us for three spans of the Second Moon," the Holy Important Person gesture-says. "And upon that visit he proclaimed unto us the comings later of three Two-Arms flying out from the Holy Small Lights That Sparkle In the Dark."

Melaran could only envy the skill the man showed in his precognitive abilities, but then give him a few thousand years and he'd likely be capable of such fine control as well.

"We have indeed traveled far in his path," Melaran replied. "And would welcome the opportunity to hear what other wisdom he may have left in his passing." Play along with the natives, _something_ had to provide a hint!

"Three-Eyes is great and long he sees, and much does he know. He told us the time the Holy River floods, when to plant our Holy Blue Seeds and when to harvest the food therefrom."

So he'd taught them the effects of the climate and seasons and how to avoid their dangers, letting the natives devote their efforts toward improving their basic standard of living and devote resources to things beyond mere survival. Interesting. The question was _why_? What was Vistri _doing_ out here?

"Did he speak of where he came or where he was going once he had taught all that he would here?"

"He said he came from far beyond the Holy Small Lights, out from the Untold Darkness of which we know nothing. But he did tell of where he would next travel, so that we might guide the next Holy Two-Arms who would walk in his path. By the light of the Holy Bright Sphere at the passage at the midpoint of the period of day, he flew out from here in his Holy Metal Wings as if toward the Middle Mountain up the river."

The calculations required to get an accurate fix on that considering the time difference were enough to make Melaran's head swim, but he'd gladly take advantage of the resources at hand. "Vicky?"

She smiled and nodded. "No problem."

He chuckles lightly, not looking forward to the inevitable day that they won't _have_ that mind available... no need to brood on it, though.

Naturally, even with that information and precise calculations, there were still several different stars it might be. Silma, Molvin, and Kirah, based on the Taburi station's starcharts, would seem the most likely possibilities.

Vicky stored the data for now and will reference again when they're back at the ship, even if she does have a brief impulse to send the data to her companions. She did so enjoy her work! Melaran accepts her at her word, without need of proof just yet, and returns his attention to the elderly priest, "Thank you for sharing his words that we might continue along in his steps."

"May the Holy Small Ones shine upon your pilgrimage, Two-Arms. Should you see the Holy Three Eyes, tell him that one day we shall follow upon where he flew and journey into the Holy Shining."

Melaran bowed politely. "We will certainly tell him, I'm sure he'll be gladdened to hear that his words have not been forgotten in the long years past. We'll leave you to continue your own search for enlightenment while we pursue that path once more. Thank you very much."

Tarna turned and headed back toward the ship again. "Well, that was.. enlightening. Or something. At least the natives were friendly."

Melaran headed back as well, Vicky trotting quickly behind after a quickly bobbed bow and smile. "What I want to know," he said, "is why he seems intent on being followed, yet equally intent on being lost! I always hated the cryptic, enigmatic spiel. Ugh."

"I'm sure there must be _some_ point to it," Tarna said. "Or maybe I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt. But then he seems an awfully competent Chronomancer..."

"No kidding!" Melaran agreed, climbing back into the ship, "Now whether that meshes with rationality or not is anyone's guess... but then the people back there sure didn't seem any the worse for wear for his passing." He shook his head at the puzzle and slings himself into a seat in the cockpit, "So what'd you get from that, Vicky?"

She helpfully transferred the data to the ship computer, neatly labeled and proofs presented.

Tarna nodded and glanced it over as if pretending to have any idea what it all meant. "At least that station back there had a starchart, I guess, even if probably nobody around here calls the things by the same names anymore anyway..."

Melaran disabled the scrolling panel of numbers to the side with a bleary blink. "I think we can pass on the mathematical proofs."

Vicky just grinned at him. "Oh sure, take all the fun out of it!" she settled in to look at the three systems. "So do we check all three at random, or pick the most central one and hope for the best?" Long shots, she did so love human phrases.

"Pick one and hope," Tarna said. "With any luck, there won't be any giant tanks shooting at us there," she added jovially.

"Hey! I resemble that!" Vicky replied with a laugh, then secured herself for takeoff and the trip.

Melaran snickered and said, "Alright, here we go then."

He took the ship back off-planet and headed off to one of the systems. With a mental flip of a coin he decides to start off with Molvin, and set the course in good spirits... three systems was a smaller haystack than the last one they'd sorted through.

When they arrived in Molvin, they found that if it ever had habitable planets, they'd long since been reduced to bits of debris and asteroids. The only planets in the system were a pair of rocky chunks and two gas giants, and quite a large number of asteroids. Thorough scans did indicate that the asteroids may have once been planets no longer than a few hundred years ago, possibly more recently than that.

"Not exactly encouraging," Melaran remarked, though he did set about to scanning the system for any signs that there was a base or station among any of the asteroids or settled in the gas giants. Not much hope for that, though, and he set a course for the next system at the same time. 

Vicky saw what he's doing and copied the computer's search pattern so she could work from the other angle and quicken the search. There were no intact bases at any rate. Some metallic debris might indicate that there may once have been, but there wasn't anything substantial enough left to get much information from.

Vicky went over the debris scatter and other data obtained in the scans to try and formulate some idea of when the systems destruction occurred and what types of forces were used to accomplish it. That was an idle investigation, though, as Melaran shook his head and set off for the next system in line. Her best estimates from the debris patterns indicated that it was destroyed a few hundred years ago, most likely using some sort of ion-based weaponry.

Silma was the next in line, and Vicky passed along the information on the last system when she was satisfied with the reliability of the information and conclusions she'd drawn. She knew it wasn't really as much of an interest to the other two, but any sort of military or war-related data was inevitably of great interest to _her_.


	6. Curious Cats

Silma looked to be a good deal more promising, a bright, shining yellow star with one habitable planet, the second one, being something of a tropical paradise in some places and a desert and savannah in others. The civilization on this planet appeared to be at an early industrial level, marked by transportation lines similar to railroad tracks crisscrossing the planet.

"A bit more to work with here," Melaran mused, continuing the scan for more detail. "Of course the likelihood of finding specific information in a wider ranging society is more difficult, too. Unless he inspired a religion here, too." He chuckled.

The sentient species of this particular planet appeared to be a race of feline humanoids, the majority of them sporting spots of some color and type. The smallest continent appeared to be the most heavily populated, though, although train tracks crossed the larger continent connecting coastal settlements.

"Hmm, go with a heavy population and risk a general revolt," Melaran said, "Or try the rustic locals out in the boondocks?"

Vicky could spout off a series of general sociological data to support going either route, but refrained from doing so with a grin and left the decision to the naturally intuitive processes of her friends.

Tarna chuckled, and said, "Let's try one of the frontier towns, I think. And if they speak English with an American accent, I'm going to shoot somebody."

"And if I see a single person with a glowing star on their chest..." Melaran began, then growled and glared at the screen, "I am going to _kill_ Bob!"

He muttered and set a course for one of the outlying areas, ignoring with great deliberation the grinning look Vicky tossed Tarna's way. The giggled laugh that followed shortly after earned a glare, though.

The particular town he ended up heading toward was a mountain town located alongside a river, and near some caverns rich in mineral ore. It was doubtless a mining town. Train tracks led through the mountains allowing easy transport of the ore gathered to places needing it. Likewise, the area around here was poor for farming, so doubtless much of their food was imported.

Melaran looked for a place that wasn't too terribly distant but not within easy panic range of the locals. Distance wasn't any problem for him with his armor, but the girls weren't quite so mobile... not that there weren't compensating factors to that sometimes, he grinned inwardly. Just around the hillside should put them safely out of easy shooting range but still within a reasonable hike away.

"Good, no signs of large hooved riding animals either," Tarna observed.

"Well I guess we'll just have to mosey along afoot then, partner," Vicky replied with a creditable drawl and ignored the Look that Melaran gave both of them as he headed for the hatch.

The town was a ramshackle affair of stone and wood buildings primarily, although at least they were not so primitive that they were still living in mud huts. The feline inhabitants of the planet appeared to wear very little clothing, primarily only belts for tools or weapons, and necklaces, bracelets, and anklets for decoration and status displays.

Vicky really couldn't help whistling a bit on the way, a tune that anyone who'd watched any of a number of old Eastwood spaghetti westerns would recognize right away. Unfortunately, Melaran _did_ recognize it and glared for a moment, then smirked and just shook his head. _Oh, I'll get you Bob, he swears, and your little dog Toto, too! ... ARGH!_

The cats looked over to them in surprise when they first spotted them, pointing and twitching their tails. Some of them approached curiously and give them a good look-over. Thankfully, they didn't speak English, but their language was a lot less heavily gestural than the Balagites' language.

May as well start off with the same idea, Vicky decided, and approached the nearest with a deliberately non-aggressive posture... though whether the felines would interpret it in the same fashion was impossible to gauge without evidence. She picked through, looking for the roots of the language in their minds even as she tried to get them talking verbally by offering a greeting.

The cats thought they're very odd with their lack of fur and their attire, but were more curious about them than afraid. "Who are they?" "What are they?" "Where'd they come from?" they mrowled to one another.

Vicky fed the information along as before, including corrections for inflection and intonation as necessary, and puzzled over some aspects that were clearly emphatic elements based on their physical attributes. Those wouldn't be possible.

"We're travelers," Melaran replied as soon as he felt a sufficient grasp was had. "We're hoping to find some sign of another like ourselves who may have come this way a long while ago."

Although they might have something of a speech impediment for lack of a tail, the catfolk get the gist of it well enough.

"Never seen anybody like you before," one of them said.

"I dunno, well, maybe," said another.

Melaran looked interestedly to the one who showed something less than certainly, "Maybe?" he asked.

"Well, maaaybe," he said. At least, it was pretty obviously male as they didn't wear many clothes. "Kind of, sort of?"

"A little different," Melaran offered in hopes of jogging the other's memory with a little more detail. "He has three eyes, but otherwise much like myself."

"Yeah, yeah! Three eyes, and with different accouterments."

"Yes, that's him," Melaran replied with a nod, "Where was he seen?"

"Oh, that was just a legend, long time ago," said a mostly white cat. "Way back on the Old Land before the New Land was settled."

"The old land?" Melaran asked, pulling up a mental map of the continents and referencing the heavily settled one to provide a reference to the feline.

The cats present nodded. "Yeah, the place we came from way back when. The Three-Eyed One was seen there, according to legend, when he came and spoke to Mantor Spotted-Fur, and inspired him to build neat stuff!"

"Or at least that's what Mantor Spotted-Fur claimed."

"Is this Mantor Spotted-Fur still there?" Melaran asked, though he suspected that was a bit too much to hope for. It would make finding further information considerably easier... hah!

"Oh, of course not! He died long-time-ago. Maybe his descendants are still there, I suppose." He shrugged.

"Thank you very much," Melaran replied earnestly, "We'll go and check there, then."

With a final nod, he took his leave to head back to the ship. Vicky looked a bit more wistfully toward the settlement, wanting to see more, but followed after a quiet sigh and raspberry of discontent. Tarna also seemed a little disappointed, but shrugged a bit and heads that way.

Melaran wasn't wholly oblivious, even if he was intent on moving onward, and he stopped about halfway back to the ship to look back at the two with a quirked grin. "Okay, I missed something and it just caught up with me... let me guess, someone wants to play tourist?"

Tarna giggled softly. "Hey, we're not in any hurry are we? He came by here hundreds of years ago, after all, the trail's not gonna get any colder."

Vicky just looked hopeful at the sudden change.

Melaran glanced at her, snorted. "Right, I can see you agree too. Okay." He chuckled and looked back to Tarna, "You're right, there's no hurry, so we may as well see what the cats are like. Tourist season, ho!"

Most of the cats around this town, which was apparently called Shantil, were very friendly and curious toward them. They practically brought productivity to a halt around them as the cats bombarded them with questions about who they were, where they were from, and such.

Melaran let the women field the questions for the most part unless something was specifically directed at him, grinning in amusement at the whole thing. Vicky was perfectly happy to take up the slack on it, though, and thought about some very simple things that could be done to adapt to the full spectrum of the language. It would be easy to put together a prosthetic tail and ear arrangement with the proper materials!

One imagined that after they left, they'd end up putting a monument where their ship landed and the town would be a popular tourist attraction with people coming from all over to see the spot where the "Weird Furless Aliens" landed. But apparently, from what they said, themselves and Vistri were not the only visitors from outer space that have been seen on this planet...

"Really?" Vicky asked with clear interest. "What have these other visitors been like?"

A thin frown creased her brow at the thought that it could be the ones who'd destroyed the first system they'd visited, but then they probably wouldn't have left anything, would they? The probabilities were quite low.

"Oh, the other people from space? Well, they didn't stay long, they poked around a bit and did, what did they say? 'Socio and political analysis of the endemic sentient species of the planet' and 'estimated time for technology level to attain minimal requirements for admittance into the Alliance'. Whatever that all was supposed to mean. Oh, but they didn't look like you folks. They looked more like us. Kind of. Well, with different fur type and funny hairless tails, and round ears, and pointy noses."

Vicky smiled a bit, reassured by the revelation of what they'd done. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about what they were doing, it could be good for you in the long run. Sounds like just the sort of thing I've seen people do elsewhere, watching over others and trying not to cause too much trouble for them."

"I saw em myself, I did! It was over in Stalvar City around three years back."

"Well it's a good sign that they were willing to talk about it," Vicky said. "People doing those sorts of studies generally hide out to avoid just the sort of contamination of the society they're studying. Now they'll _have_ to come back, just to make sure that they didn't break anything."

"And they said we 'exhibit an excellent level of ingenuity' and 'very low xenophobic tendencies'." He made a strange face. He clearly didn't know what the word 'xenophobic' actually meant, even though he said it in his own language, and it was not difficult to translate it just by analyzing the root words even if he wasn't familiar with the concept.

"Umm," Vicky replied, grinning a little as she scratched the tip of her nose. "The meaning's pretty simple, and really important in the context they used it. It means that you're not afraid or intolerant of those who are different from you, like these others or us. That's a very positive thing since there's so many different races possible out there, and you'll probably get along well with them."

"Oh! I see," he said brightly. "I wonder what they're all like?"

"Here? I really don't know," Vicky replied. "We haven't encountered this Alliance yet. The only worlds we've seen hadn't gotten to the technological level where they can get to the stars on their own yet. I wonder what sector they're in?"

The cat seemed fairly confused about some of the terminology she used and didn't understand what she meant by 'sector', and just made a non-committal gesture of lack of knowledge.

Vicky offered an apologetic smile, picking up on the hints of confusion. "I'm sorry, there's just some things that I'm so familiar with that they come naturally, which doesn't mean they will to you. At least not _yet_. If they rated your people with high ingenuity, though," she grinned, "I bet that won't be true for _too_ long."

"Hey, I bet we'll figure out how to make trains to the stars soon enough!" he said optimistically.

Curiosity and cats, two things that went hand in claw, and Vicky grinned. "Maybe not trains," she said, "but there's all sorts of ways that you could go about it with a healthy dose of persistence and that vaunted ingenuity. Who knows? Maybe you'll come up with a way that no one else has thought of!"

After a while, the sun started coming down and the cats headed off to sleep. Apparently these cats were diurnal rather than nocturnal. Tarna headed off back toward the ship again when they turned in. Melaran headed back with her, Vicky tagging along after a moment more and without complaint. All she'd really wanted to do was talk to them a bit and learn a little about them! She hummed softly as they make their way back to the ship, and settled in when they reach it.

"Hopefully the time zones are different enough," Melaran said as he settled in and got ready for takeoff, "That they won't have gone to bed yet." He chuckled.

As it turned out, the smaller and more heavily settled of the two continents was actually at a later time zone, and it was almost dawn over much of the area there currently.

That timing worked just as well, if not better, in that it gave them plenty of time to find a landing place and head into the area as the felines' day was just beginning. Melaran found an appropriate space and set down, then headed out to go find the local lay of the land.

This continent was more lush and fertile than the larger continent, covered with jungles and abundant plant life between the cities. There appeared to be little to no agriculture here, but it probably wasn't actually necessary. The continent was old and there were only some large hills rather than rocky mountains as on the other.

"Nice, hospitable place," Melaran remarked, enjoying the view as well as the fresh air. Okay, so he was still Eldar in some ways.

He chuckled and went to leave the ship behind for now, finding some remnant of the line of this Mantor Spotted-Fur high on his list of things to do. One notable difference was that cats with spotted fur appeared to be rarer on this continent than on the larger one, although there were still a good number of them. One might hazard a guess that chances would be Mantor Spotted-Fur's descendants probably had spotted fur. After seeing the difference in fur patterns, that startling hypothesis became suddenly clear even to Melaran, and he chuckled to himself as he sought out one of the spotty resources.

Near where they landed, there was a small town nestled into the forest in which several of the spotted variety of felines lived alongside their striped, pointed, and solid-colored cousins. The inhabitants here seemed only slightly more reserved than their distant cousins on the next continent.

Melaran was amused by the energy and curiosity of the felines, but Vicky was looking a bit thoughtful as they continue onward. She was thinking about the last encounter and the former contact the cats had had with an alien species, and chewed her lip in quiet worry that _they_ might end up doing some damage to the society they're passing through. She liked them, and she wouldn't want that to happen.

The quiet pondering didn't draw Melaran's attention, intent on first finding and then approaching one of the spotted varieties. "Excuse me," he intruded on one of them. "Would you happen to know anything about Mantor Spotted-Fur?"

"Oh yeah!" she replied. "He was a great inventor and a philosopher and he was really smart and knew a lot! He lived a long time ago and made stuff. I know my history!"

Melaran chuckled at the bubbling enthusiasm. "Is there anywhere that I can find more detailed information on him? I'd be very interested in meeting one of his descendants who might know something about a visitor I heard he may have had at one time."

"Oh, you mean the Three-Eyed One?" she said. "That's only a legend, but maybe it actually happened, you look kind of like how he was supposed to have looked! But Mantor lived in the town of Shaladi. That's a day's walk east of here."

"That's the great thing about legends," Melaran replied, grinning slightly. "Sometimes there's some truth to be found in them.... So, Shaladi, a bit to the east? Thank you."

"You're welcome!" she said brightly and pranced off giggling.

Tarna commented, "Right friendly sorts aren't they."

"Indeed they are," Melaran agreed, chuckling. "The most friendly and open that I've ever seen."

He shook his head and turned back the way they'd come, looking to get back to the ship and off to Shaladi to pursue the elusive Mantor and his three-eyed legend. The town of Shaladi wasn't difficult to find, as once they got close they spotted a sign at the edge of town proclaiming, "Shaladi - Home of Mantor Spotted-Fur".

"Well he certainly wasn't considered the town kook," Melaran commented dryly. "Though I shouldn't really be surprised considering their apparent enjoyment of the strange and bizarre."

Once again, they're greeted with excitement and curiosity, and a few said things like, "Oh! They look like the Three-Eyed One! Except they don't have three eyes!"

The greeting was absurd enough that Melaran just had to laugh, but at least he knew that the 'legend' was broadly known here. He searched for one of the spotted fuzzies to put the question to. He didn't have much difficulty in locating one with a leopard-like pattern of spots. "Hi!" the feline said cheerfully to them.

"Hello there," Melaran replied with matching cheer, something about the continual good-nature of the felines proving to be terribly infectious. "We've come here looking for some information about Mantor Spotted-Fur, or more specifically about the 'legend' of the three-eyed man."

"Mantor Spotted-Fur?" he said. "I know all about him! I'm his great-great-great-something-grand-nephew!" He bounced around cheerfully. "Are you from the same place he was from? The Three-Eyed-One that is!"

"The same general direction," Melaran chuckled, then raised a brow. "From that, though, I'd gather you don't exactly think he was just a legend?"

"Of course not!" he said enthusiastically. "Come on, I'll show you the house where Mantor lived and the Three-Eyed One came to him in!"

"I'd enjoy that," Melaran replied amiably and moved readily to follow. "And no, he's not a legend, we've come a long way looking for him. A _really_ long way."

Good thing there wasn't anyone expecting him to report in or there'd be hell to pay by now! Of course with Tarna around he wouldn't have really cared, he admitted with a quiet chuckle.

The spotted cat scurried off and led them to a large old house build of solid stone, with elegant carvings on some of it. It appeared to have been well maintained over the years. Inside there were rich floors and tapestries, statues and pieces of art reminiscent somewhat of the Renaissance on Terra. Some of the objects within drew more interest than mere art, however. There was actually a model of the star system in one corner of the room, its planets and moons gently spinning on fine wires.

Melaran wouldn't know Terra if it ran up and bit him on the backside, but he _was_ struck by the inconsistency of the system model... if it were stylized, that would be one thing, but if it was reasonably accurate that would suggest more than the current technology would seem able to accomplish. Some of the proportions were wrong, certainly, and only a few of the moons on the outer planets were shown, but it was surprisingly accurate for its time.

He looked around with clear interest, "Mantor was a scientist and inventor?"

The cat nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh! I've even still got his old telescope still upstairs, too! And a lot of the stuff he made when he was alive."

"I'd heard that the three-eyed man encouraged the tendency?" Melaran prompted, interested to hear more about the encounter and what consequences it had had on this world.

"Well, I suppose," he said. "But he'd already come up with his hypothesis of the 'solar system' by then," he indicated the model.

Melaran smiled and went to take a closer look at the model, and nodded with appreciation. "A remarkable bit of work, considering the limitations of the instruments that had to have been used to generate it."

"Here, I'll show you his workroom," he said, heading for the stairs.

"Alright," Melaran agreed and followed after the feline, thinking that if nothing else there might be a journal or some other personal account of the encounter. Failing that, it was still worthwhile to see just for a look into the curiously strange mind of the inventor.

The large workroom upstairs contained any number of strange devices. An old telescope, its form long out of date even by the limited technology of this planet. A model of a flying craft, albeit with fatal flaws that would prevent it from ever actually flying. A large, ornate clock, its gears turning away diligently. And many others beside.

Melaran found it interesting enough, the quirky designs an alien but nonetheless appealing collection. He moved quickly aside at a sharp elbow from Vicky, though, who approached each design with clear fascination. They reminded her of a period in human history before things had really taken off, and each verged as much on a piece of art as an invention.

"Very interesting," Melaran says, stifling a grin.

The cat eagerly continued to show them some of the things Mantor had written and drawn, old diagrams on yellowed parchment with scribbled notes in an archaic version of the cats' language -- and it did appear that they spoke the same language here as on the other continent -- with such notations as, "Wings must be larger to provide lift" and "Iron is too heavy - need a lighter material" and such.

Vicky was definitely the more avid enthusiast, Melaran's own casual interest paling beside it. She examined each device with careful joy, drawing comparisons to similar constructs in the far distant past, and paged with gentle reverence through the notes that had been left behind.

"Has someone continued on in his footsteps?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, certainly," he said. "You should see some of the things my cousin Malori has concocted. She lives just outside of town."

"Does she have more of his notes?" Vicky asked hopefully, and Melaran blinked at her in sudden suspicion. It was impossible to disguise her honest interest in the material, but perhaps she was a little more adept than he was giving her credit for, turning that interest to their advantage in dealing with the locals... nahhhhh...

"I think she has some more of his things down at her house, maybe..." he said.

Vicky smiled. "Could you introduce us? I'd love to see more of what he's done, and what has been done to build on the very solid foundation he left behind."

"Okay!" he said brightly, leading them back outside and down the street to another house nearby. This one was made of wood, and was smaller, and there were some wind chimes and mobiles hanging outside the front door.

Melaran looked at Vicky thoughtfully as she followed briskly after the feline, then followed after with a quiet chuckle. The crisp light grey of her uniform may be positively drab in comparison to the coats of their hosts or their own armor, but she certainly made up for it with energy. She reached up to lightly stir the chimes, listening with a distant expression, then smiled at their guide.

The cat walked up and rung the doorbell, and more bells can be heard inside the house. A female spotted cat came to the door and answered it. "Malori, I've got visitors for you!" he said cheerfully.

Malori looks at them and said, "Hi! Come inside! I was just about to test..." she went off into a string of technobabble involving engines.

"Great!" Vicky replied cheerfully, instantly taking up the invitation and moving to follow after without even a passing thought of passing the opportunity by. Besides, there was nothing an inventor loved more than to display and talk about their work, who was she to deny at least a little praise?

Malori showed them through the house and out back to where she had, apparently, built something vaguely resembling an crude early automobile. She launched into a spiel of technobabble with regards to it before going up to try it out.

Remembering some of the reports of early experiments with internal combustion engines, Vicky made sure Tarna and Melaran don't get _too_ near the device. She watched with a gleam in her eyes, remembering her own origins long, long before that had begun with the General Motors company... she could be seeing the earliest ancestor of her distant relatives!

Malori cranked up the engine and hopped onto the top of the open car. The engine sputtered for a few moments and popped, and a cloud of fumes boiled out of one end, but it then decided to start moving, chugging along for a good six meters before choking and stopping. Malori and her cousin were cheering enthusiastically. Although, all things considered, they'd probably cheer enthusiastically about sausage, too.

Vicky grinned at the display and darted up to offer hearty congratulations on the successful test. Yes, they were opening the door to polluting their world even further than they might imagine, but the automobile had been a _tremendous_ influence on innovation in Terran history and would probably prove much the same here.

"Marvelous, simply marvelous," she crooned, circling to examine the vehicle.

Melaran coughed at the wretched _stench_ that the vehicle emitted, the stink reminding him too much of the horrid hiveworlds in the human Empire, but he managed a smile at the display of triumph and unadulterated pleasure of success that the test elicited.

Malori hugged her cousin and launched into another line of technobabble with regards to how she might improve it, make it more efficient and consistent, even considering other sources of fuel that might be as or more effective without being as disruptive and, well, stinky.

Vicky would dearly love to show them a few minor improvements to set the process really in motion, but she refrained from doing so with the knowledge that to do so would interrupt what they should develop as. Still, it was quite tempting in the bubble of enthusiasm. She didn't hesitate to crawl _under_ the car either, after checking to make sure it was safely secured, for a look at the chassis.

There were distinct differences in the design from how it was developed on Terra, although there were clear similarities as well. Either way, it was fairly compact and a decent step up from the old steam-driven trains that they had seen.

Melaran put a hand to his face as Vicky crawls under the vehicle and held in a laugh as he walked idly to stand beside Tarna. "Oh my, what _have_ we done?" he tepped.

Vicky was as interested in the differences as the similarities, and didn't seem to notice as she scooted back out with scuffs and a couple of stains marring her uniform and a dark spot on one cheek. She rose, brushing her hands on her pants, and walked over to listen to the stream of technobabble for a little bit.

Unable to follow much of the conversation and seeing Melaran and Tarna in a similar predicament, Malori's cousin said to the two of them, "Here, let's go inside and see what it was you were looking for."

Melaran nodded with admirable restraint, then allowed a quiet laugh when they got inside and safely beyond immediate hearing range. "Let's take a look," he managed after a moment, though his eyes still gleamed with suppressed mirth.

Malori's house contained some more of Mantor's writings, notes, and charts and graphs. The thick parchment was old but still solid and the writing still legible.

Melaran remained in quiet good humor as he takes advantage of the opportunity that Vicky's enthusiasm supplied to take a look over some of the records laying around. There was no telling what Mantar might have in his notes somewhere, and he was hoping one of those unknowns would provide some clue as to where Vistri had gone.

He did find, among the notes, some journal scrolls with a thorough description of Vistri, and a brief description of his ship, which Mantor didn't get a good look at other than seen in flight. That was probably for the best considering these people's rabid curiosity, Melaran mused, they'd undoubtedly be zipping all over the place by now with a better look at the thing. Their resident information sponge would probably be better for this, but he found a comfortable place to perch and continues sorting through the odd documents. The felines' script was elegant and precise, and Mantor's writing was certainly a fair example of it. He had written down a number of interesting observations on many subjects.

"I'm a doctor, not an anthropologist!" Melaran muttered quietly as he moved from one page to another, then stopped and looked pained for a second before returning to reading. "Damn pranksters..." he grumbled. Good thing he'd developed at least some sense of humor along the way. He'd probably just settle for a bit of maiming rather than any serious harm when he saw Bob next.

"The strange three-eyed man is leaving today," Mantor wrote. "He would not let me near his ship as he prepared for departure. I wish I could get a better look at the device. From what little I have seen of it, I do not know how it flies. The wings are not nearly large enough to provide sufficient lift, and it looks to be made of metal, much too heavy to actually fly."

There was little doubt in Melaran's mind that these people would find their way into space in no time at all, on a galactic scale, and he spent a moment toying with amusing examples of _how_ they might do it. They were undeniably an interesting race.

Further down the scroll, Mantor wrote, "I watched as the three-eyed man left. He took to his strange metal ship and he flew away into the night. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out where he might have gone. Judging by the angle and direction of his departure, my estimates would be that he went toward the star we call Aramir." He included diagrams and formulas to support his theory.

Ah-hah, now that was precisely the reference he was looking for, and Melaran studied the passage thoroughly to memorize it and get the reference to the star firmly in mind.

Tarna said, "Did you find something?" She peered over to see what he's looking at. "More diagrams?"

Melaran held the sheet up for her inspection. "Yes indeed, and if we can put together the references to the local starscape we'll have a good idea of what direction he headed off to, at least. Whether he changed course along the way is anyone's guess."

"Good a point of reference as any," Tarna said. "I'm willing to bet he's got a starchart on one of his quaint parchment scrolls somewhere around here or back at the other house, too."

Considering the model of the system," Melaran replied. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least. Give me a hand digging through to see if it's around here, would you?" He kept the relevant scrap of parchment near to hand as he turned to the new search.

After a thorough search through various charts and diagrams, Melaran eventually came upon what appeared to be a primitive star chart with major stars labeled and thin curved lines for reference.

"These should provide the references we need," Melaran said with some satisfaction, between the two quite certain they can create a comparison with local space and get a good degree of accuracy.

Tarna gave a nod. "Looks good. Shall we go show them to Vicky?"

"If we can pry her away from the inventor," Melaran replied dryly.

Tarna chuckled, and stood up and headed outside. Melaran followed after, unsurprised to find that Vicky was still chatting amiably with Malori on one subject or another involving either the current project or some other that they reached through a chain of jumped associations. She looked over and waved as they appeared, though, so she was not exactly oblvious to the world around her as the more devout were known to be. Tarna chuckled softly and approached.

Malori said, "Oh, yes, you're still here! Shall I get you something to eat or drink perhaps?"

"Actually, I brought these for Vicky to take a look at," Melaran replied, offering the two works to the woman.

Vicky took them with an expression of sharp interest, and she grinned a moment later as she looked back up. "Amazing how accurate he managed to be with the limited tools available."

The star Aramir apparently appeared to correspond to the star marked Vadel on the Taburi starchart from the old station.

"Thank you for the chat," Vicky directed to Malori with a smile. "I really enjoyed it."

She was pretty sure that they'd be moving along again quickly, but she didn't want to be rude, and besides, it _had_ been a fascinating look into the developing technology of this society. It was something she could delve into for a few decades or centuries, but she doubted that was going to happen.

Tarna said, "Shall we head off then now?"

"Sure enough," Melaran agreed and offered a brief bow to their hostess. "Thanks for the help."

He then headed for the door. Vicky waved and trotted off after, though she did take a moment to find a place to leave the notes for their rightful owner. All the information they needed was safely stored away for use when they returned to the ship... and, she suddenly noticed, she needed to clean up a bit. Tarna bid the cats farewell and headed back to the ship, looking up to the sky thoughtfully as they went. It was a lovely day, the sun shining brightly and the sky streaked with thin white clouds.

"Well, this has certainly been an interesting excursion," Tarna said. "Even if I feel like I'm being lead around by bread crumbs."

"You've gotten that feeling too, eh?" Melaran said with a sideward look. "I've been getting that since the crystal cavern, and have to wonder if it doesn't go back further than that."

It wasn't really an unfamiliar concept, but the scope of it was more than a bit daunting. Vicky didn't seem concerned about it, continuing jauntily along and just enjoying the day and moment on the way back.

"Well, so long as it doesn't involve people shooting at me I'm perfectly happy to keep eating up the crumbs."

"Oh now you've done it," Melaran grumbled, "The universe just _waits_ to hear statements like that so they can be turned on their ear." He chuckled and shrugged. "At least we're not lost like the last time we ended up in the middle of nowhere."

There were definite advantages to that state of affairs, to be sure, and they had the next bread crumb to chase so the path could lead on to... what? Guess they'd see when they got there.

Tarna hopped cheerfully aboard the ship, unconcerned, and said, "Okay then, away we go, tally-ho, and all that jazz!"

Vicky was in equally good spirits and climbed aboard to fiddle with the ship computers briefly to input the information they'd found, humming softly. Melaran smirked as he followed a bit more sedately, though he was in a surprisingly cheerful state as well. There was something to be said for the more casual approach that they were taking over the rigid structure of his past life.

He settled in and checked through Vicky's calculations for a course... why, he wasn't sure, it wasn't like he expected a mistake, but it was habit. Everything in order, he brought the ship up and headed off on the chosen vector. Vicky waited till takeoff, then headed back to get cleaned up.


	7. New Civilizations

The star Vistri had been seen heading toward was not far from here, its apparent brightness from the planet being primarily due to its proximity. The system had eight planets, and there was a space station in orbit of the fourth planet, a terrestrial planet covered with oceans, forests, cities.

"Oh!" Vicky exclaimed as she returned and got a look at the system, then dropped into a seat to start working on a full scan, "Starfaring civilization, hmm, hmm."

Lots more potential there, on both the good and bad side of things, and the tactical side of her thought processes immediately began scanning for data and assessing the threat potential of what may be found. It wasn't the most advanced spacefaring civilization they had seen, certainly. From the few ships they saw around, they didn't appear to be much threat for them. Comparatively, these primitive spaceships were made of tinfoil and wielding flashlights. It was questionable whether they were even capable of interstellar flight.

"Correction," Vicky said. "Looks more like space, rather than starfaring, perhaps closest in similarity to twentieth century Terra, or a few centuries after. Heavy industry, full satellite coverage, communications and sensor arrays, all the things you'd expect from a mid-level society."

Melaran perused the scans thoughtfully, grinning faintly at her assessment of the military potential and possible threat levels.

"We may want to approach this one a bit more carefully," he said. "Depending on their attitudes, we don't want to inspire a panic or accidental military crisis over an 'alien invasion'."

They didn't appear to have detected them just yet. Tarna sat and looked over the readouts on the system. The species in question appeared to be some sort of... land octopus, for lack of a better term. They didn't have arms or legs, per se, but eight prehensile tentacles.

"Hmm, there's a problem with that approach," Melaran said. "Specifically that it'd take decades of research to get a good frame of reference regarding their overall development and attitudes. What the hell..." The ship glided slowly further in-system, and he grinned over at Tarna. "We haven't gotten this far by not leaping into things, have we?"

Tarna giggled and said, "Certainly. Let's bring us in. At least if they start freaking out we can leave really fast, I guess."

As they approached, the natives attempted to contact them via radio. Melaran shifted the comm to the appropriate frequencies and answered their hails, adding a bland, generic statement of peaceful intent. The radio responded only with a series of pops, clicks, and snaps. Whether that was their actual language or some code similar to Morse code was difficult to determine from here.

"Hmm," Melaran merely said and shunted the transmission over to Vicky for her to toy with and see if she could make sense of it. He continued planetward, ready to bring the ship to a halt if confronted by one of the local craft.

The ships didn't seem inclined to stop them, or try to shoot at them or anything. They were not assaulted by jetfighters on the way down either.

Vicky mucked about with the transmissions, but sets it as a secondary priority with a mental snort and went out looking for one of the minds of the locals. The translation exercise might be entertaining, but she really would prefer to avoid misunderstandings if possible... too many battles and genocidal wars had begun over them!

Unfortunately, their physiology was sufficiently different for them to be difficult to mind-scan at the moment. It'd take some work to adapt to it enough to get very accurate readings. Comparatively, the catfolk were almost human.

Having started out with the assumption that it was only possible to contact other machine intelligences in this manner, Vicky wasn't the least deterred by the difference in mental structure. All that did was make it more of a challenge in terms of logic and interpretation!

Seeing that they were not being confronted, Melaran continued slowly toward the planet with the intent to find a remote landing area that wouldn't bring undue alarm to the natives. With luck, they'd be capable of talking to them in short order and they could go from there.

Finding a nice open area wasn't difficult. Finding a nice open area that didn't appear to be farmland being harvested or tended by machines or parks with young children playing in it was a bit more difficult. But they did find a place. The ship settled lightly to earth, and Melaran took a good look around before getting up and walking toward the hatch.

"Time to see what surprises this little society has in store," he said, then chuckled. "And where they'll be hiding the records on Vistri this time."

Some of the natives approached cautiously, looking toward the ship and waving their tentacles around and clicking repeatedly.

Tarna commented, "They look like octopi. Octopuses. Octopodes. Whatever."

"Don't look at me," Melaran chuckled. "The only reason I even know of them is because of you-know-who." He glanced over at Vicky, "Any luck so far?"

Thus far, they were managing to be pretty incomprehensible. Tarna waved at the tentacled natives in what she hoped was a friendly manner. It wasn't long before some octopi bearing what appeared to be microphones and cameras showed up.

Vicky shook her head absently at his question and continued to work at the problem on several levels, both through Mind and through more logical and mundane methods including cross-referencing to various modes of communications of aquatic species she'd known and others who had relied on different radio frequencies. It was a puzzle and she turned it this way and that like a Rubik's Cube.

"So we make nice until we can manage to nail it down," Melaran said, smiling and nodding blandly for the benefit of their audience.

The octopi didn't really seem to be afraid of them or anything at least, although they lacked the cheerful curiosity of the cat people. Vicky slowly managed to get an idea of what they were saying, bit by bit. Judging by what the reporter was saying, they didn't appear to be the first "aliens" to show up here, either.

Vicky passed along what she'd picking up and pried at the edges of what she'd already gathered as a basis for a deeper insight. Lack of persistence and patience was something her kind could never be blamed with.

"So we're not the first here, that explains the general acceptance and lack of panic," Melaran said. "Wonder if the Alliance we heard about has been nosing around here, too?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," Tarna commented.

The octopus reporter was saying toward the camera something like, "As we doubt they are capable of speaking our language, we are attempting to bring in a translation device that we might communicate with them."

There were gaps in what was being heard, pretty big ones still, but the reporter's commentary was a positive sign. Would their device work any more reliably, though?

"I want to see if this translator works," Melaran remarked. "That'd give us an idea of whether they've been in contact with races who have at least a similar language base."

Vicky kept poking, prodding, and working at it, then blinks as she realized something very important and trotted quickly back into the ship to replicate a simple device to produce the range of sounds that the language uses.

The device they brought in looks rather like an iPod and when they turned it on, it began speaking in, well, a third language entirely. It was, however, much more similar to their own language than the octopi's language, meaning that they could actually say things in it. Much more similar to the feline's language, it didn't take long to figure out that the device was saying, "Welcome to our planet. We mean you no harm," and the like.

Vicky was stubborn, and while she'd let the others deal with the device and the third-person translation, she doggedly continued her work on the native language itself and tweaking the programming of the device she'd ordered up. Melaran noticed the retreat into her own little world with a chuckle, then turned to make use of the crude, but effective, option the natives had provided.

"We come in peace," he said, mentally shaking off silent mocking laughter at the turn of phrase, and went on, "We seek only information about one who is lost to us."

Vicky wasn't totally without regard for the translator provided, though, and examined the programming that allowed the third language to interface with the native one to provide another source of data.

It wasn't really up to a Universal Translator level, to be sure, as it clearly just reproduced pre-recorded words and phrases, however it got the job done. "What do you seek?" said the device.

"Another who would have come through long ago," Melaran replied. "Much like us, but having three eyes."

The reporter babbled, "They seek the All-Seeing One!" The small crowd clicked excitedly as the translation comes through.

The translation device said, "He has been here."

Melaran added another title to Vistri's growing list, and replied, "Did he leave any clue as to where he might go next? We have followed him a long way."

The device replied, "He sought out the Alliance."

That would be a logical path to follow, Melaran mused, but the question of _why_ still remains... "And are they known to you?" he asked.

"We have spoken with them," the device went on. "This device was meant for translation from their standard tongue." One explanation why it was so easy to translate -- the language the translator seemed to be speaking appeared to be an artificially constructed language, very regular and precise.

"Do you know where they come from?" Melaran asked, not really having much hope for that but at least willing to give it a shot.

"They have many planets," the device replied. "The Alliance is composed of many star systems and many races."

"Is the location of one of these member systems known?"

"Yes," the device replied. "The nearest system is the star we call the Eye of the Fish. Those who live there call it Laurm."

Melaran looked at their resident archivist, who was still working at the matter of the language with silent dedication since there'd been no other need of her attention, and quirked a grin. "Vicky?"

She looked up with a start. "Huh? Oh, Laurm, I'll see if it's on the charts we've run across so far. One moment."

The closest thing she could find on either the Taburi or Mantor's maps was a nearby system Mantor calls "Lorem".

"A reasonable mistranslation," Vicky said after relaying the information. "Either on the part of this race or the felines. The probabilities are at least better than any other random association."

Melaran hmmed but isn't necessarily content with that, and looked back to the reporter. "Is there a chart of local space that would show it, or even having it pointed out would be helpful."

"Yes," the device said in its usual monotone. "A star chart will be brought."

Shortly, some octopi carrying a large sheet of rolled-up plastic arrive, and unrolled it for them. It was a detailed map of the stars as seen from their planet, but everything was marked with little dots, dashes, and circles. One of the octopi helpfully pointed out which system it was, however.

Vicky took a quick glance to assimilate the information, then returned to her tinkering. Melaran didn't mistake that apparent lack of interest as truth, though, familiar enough by now that she'd done all that she needed to in order to completely digest the tidbit of information. He displayed a bit more attention for the benefit of those who brought it, though, examining the map with clear curiosity, and nodded, "Thank you."

The device said, "If you meet the Alliance, tell them that we will be ready for them soon."

Now that was an interesting statement, Melaran thought, then nodded. "We will certainly do so. Would you like us to bring them any information to support your message?"

"Tell them what you have seen here," the device said. "We were helpful. Do you need anything else?"

"No, you have been most helpful," Melaran replied, he tipped his head in thanks, then turned to head back to the ship wondering at the nature of this Alliance and what Vistri may have been looking for.

He stops mid-stride as Vicky crowed in triumph and then looked up from her device with a surprised expression. "Where's everyone going?"

Melaran laughed. "We got what we came for, time to move on."

"But..." she began to protest, then grinned ruefully, shrugged, and moved to follow. Win some, lose some.

Tarna said, "Heh, what, wanting to stay and sightsee some more?"

"No, not really," Vicky replied cheerfully enough. "Just curiosity about the language and whether I had the programming right. Doesn't really matter."

She whistled a spritely tune and ducked back into the ship and up to the cockpit to correlate the starchart data and plot a course. Melaran didn't say a word, not a word, he just shook his head in amusement and boarded.

Tarna chuckled. "Well, knowing this galactic standard tongue will certainly be useful in communicating with this Alliance, no doubt. So, to Laurm then?"

"Oh yes," Vicky replied. "I got a lot of information from the translation program, synthetic languages are far more logical and easily parsed than the ones naturally developed by various species."

The navigational data popped up on the main display, with Laurm clearly marked as well as the ideal course for getting there, and Melaran took the ship up and out. Laurm was a standard yellow star orbited by no less than twelve planets, two of which were habitable. The second one seemed much less highly populated then the first, perhaps a colony planet. Several stations and starships could be seen throughout the system, as well as satellites, sensor buoys, and the like.

Vicky leapt eagerly to sensor and Seeking duties, finally seeing a system more like what she'd known back in the days of Terra. Melaran drew back the query he'd been preparing for the sensors as he saw them go into a flurry of activity, chuckled quietly, and focused on taking a lazy path in-system with an ear out for any comm attempts.

A message came over the comm speaking in Galactic Standard, "Unknown vessel, your ship's design is not of any previously encountered by the Alliance. If you intend no harm, we bid you welcome to Laurm."

Vicky provided a burst cascade of the trade tongue she'd gleaned from the translator to Melaran and Tarna, then returned to her studies.

Melaran shook his head minutely at the flash of information, replayed the message, then sent a comm reply, "We are peaceful travelers, recently arrived in this galaxy. Please transmit a copy of local space regulations, and approach coordinates."

The patrol ship proceeded to send them a lengthy list of Alliance laws, and sent them a map of the system with several points of interest including landing areas clearly marked.

"Ugh," Melaran muttered, looking at the long list, then took the ship in the direction of the planet and a landing site.

Vicky _pounced_ on the legal codes, though, recognizing an opportunity to get a good look at what kind of society this Alliance was. Written in very precise legalese Galactic Standard, the laws prohibited murder, rape, theft, slavery, assault, possession of contraband (attached was a list of all restricted substances and items), impersonating an Alliance official, unauthorized hacking into restricted systems, destruction of private property, and so forth. There was at least nothing too unreasonable, and the penalties listed involve fines, rehabilitation, and imprisonment. Apparently they didn't have capital punishment here.

Considering the higher tech base, Vicky entertained high hopes for finding computers to delve into and proceeds to start looking. She'd keep an eye out for anything that might provide any reference to Vistri, but was overall just thrilled at the prospect of a high-speed data acquisition.

Although many of the computers Vicky encountered were protected and restricted, with harsh warnings against unauthorized access, she did find a publicly available data terminal with a good amount of non-sensitive information.

Vicky started with that, though at the rate she drank information it wouldn't be too terribly long before she'd be forced to wrangle with the quandary of whether to bend the rules of the Alliance and enter the restricted areas as well... just as well that Mel and Tarna weren't privy to the lightning flow of her thought processes.

Melaran stood after bringing the ship in to land and stretched. "Another hour, another planet..."

Once they'd landed, Tarna climbed out and stretched and took a look around. The natives appeared to be humanoid and furry, with hairless tails like rats, although perhaps they more closely resembled moles. There were a few token representatives of other species present as well.

Melaran and Vicky both followed after Tarna, each suitably interested in the world and people they'd found themselves on. The people here weren't overly awed or interested in the appearance of yet more aliens, and paid them little more than passing attention.

"I wonder how many species this Alliance encompasses?" he mused.

284, according to the terminal Vicky had found, including a nice map and listings and basic descriptions of them. Vicky helpfully supplied the number with a grin, which earned a look first of surprise and then chagrin.

Melaran really would learn to expect that sort of thing, one day. "And any hint of our wayward wanderer?" he asked dryly.

Vicky didn't find any information about him in the publicly available terminal. Although historical information was present, it was vague, propagandized, and biased, although at least not too strongly so.

"Ah well," Melaran replied to her negative, blissfully unaware of the silent qualified emphasis she's placed on _public terminal_ and the rather gray area her internal morality placed on Alliance laws in that regard... they weren't technically citizens, after all. "Let's take a look around then," he continued, "Looks like a nice enough place."

Not far from the landing area, which was occupied by several other ships of various designs, they found some buildings with restaurants, a ship maintenance service center, shops offering a variety of wares including clothing, data cubes, holo-emitters, and such.

"So, the question here is what Vistri might have been looking for in the Alliance," Melaran remarked, watching the shops they pass with idle curiosity. "And whether he came here or to another of their member worlds. Oh!" he suddenly remembered, "Have to remember to pass along that message too, though I have _no_ idea who would be responsible for that sort of thing."

"Some sort of office somewhere or something I would guess," Tarna said.

Of course, through the map of the planet, the Ministry of Interspecies Relations building would probably be a fair bet, mentioned there was an office of monitoring primitive worlds.

Melaran glanced aside as Vicky silently answered the question in his mind and provided a clearly-defined set of directions to reach the office, and smirked. "Thanks." He shook his head once and looked to Tarna. "Interspecies Relations, naturally." He rolled his eyes to indicate Vicky and grinned. "Shouldn't take long to get there."

It wasn't too far a walk from the landing area. A large building constructed of some black artificial building material, with a clearly labeled sign in Galactic Standard. Away from the landing area along the streets, though, they heard passersby chattering to one another in another language, presumably the native tongue of this planet.

Melaran headed into the building, intending to take a good look around and locate the specific office which had been mentioned. There were various offices with such labels as "Alliance Planets Affairs", "Mediation", "Non-Alliance Starfaring Species", and "Monitoring of Primitive Species". The building was clean and sterile and there weren't many people in the halls.

Monitoring of Primitive Species sounded like just the place to pass along the message they'd been given, and Melaran walked off in that direction. It was the least he could do to repay the help they'd gotten in the way of information.

Inside that office, there was a dark gray rodent native to this planet working at a terminal. He glanced up at them when they appeared and said, "Ah. Hello. How can I help you?"

"Hello," Melaran replied politely. "We've recently been touring parts of this galaxy while looking for someone, and the last planet we visited was apparently not only aware and familiar with this Alliance, but asked that we pass along a message for them." He relayed the system name from the charts of both the cats and the octopi, and added apologetically, "We haven't had time to familiarize with the Alliance designations."

"On the contrary," Vicky intruded and related the proper system identifier from charts she'd run across in the public systems. Astrographic data was like water to starfaring species.

"Ah, yes, Vadali and Silime," he replied. "I am familiar with them. We have been monitoring them closely."

"Both species have been interesting encounters," Melaran said, "Though I have no idea what criteria the Alliance maintains for acceptance." He shrugged. "Anyway, the last asked that we relay the message that they're nearly ready for you, and that they'd been helpful to strangers to their system. They went quite out of their way, really."

He tapped something into the terminal and said, "Noted."

"Good, and... I don't suppose you might be able to help us out, either directly or with a point in the right direction? We've been looking for a lost comrade," close enough to truth, Melaran supposed, "The trail led in this direction, and from here... No idea, just yet."

"Who is it that you seek?" he replied. "If it is a member of a starfaring species which you seek, you should check with either the Alliance Affairs office or the Non-Alliance Starfaring Species."

"Hmm," Melaran murmured, "I suppose it's off to the Non-Alliance office then." He smiled and nodded politely. "Thanks for the time and information."

"Good luck, have a nice day," he said as they left.

The Non-Alliance Species office was occupied by a fluffy white furred female rodent who smiled at them welcomingly when they entered. "Hello there, what can I do for you today?"

"Hello, I'm not sure you'll be able to help at all actually," Melaran replied. "We've been tracking an old friend of a friend for a while now, and the latest stop in his path seems to end here or somewhere else in the Alliance. If you had a record of him, he might have identified himself as Vistri and have the unusual physical feature of three eyes. The trail's a bit on the cold side, though."

"Vistri, three eyes you say." She brought up some information on her terminal. "Hmm, I do have some record of him, yes. Aside from the three eyes, he does share some physical similarities with you, yes."

Melaran wasn't about to get into the apparent connection between the Eldar and El'dari, not to mention the Elorai'isin... he didn't understand it himself, the idea of parallel evolution on that kind of scale was enough to induce a headache!

"We're of similar races," he said instead, "And are looking for him on behalf of his own people. What sort of information do you have available regarding him?"

"Hmm," she mused. "I do have a note that if anyone matching your description came looking for him that I was to tell you his current location. You can find him on the planet Seldor Kaleri."

Melaran would probably be thrilled to hear that Vicky had decided not to succumb to the temptation of rationalization and justification regarding restricted systems, at least for now. Hearing that there was a message with a _current_ location listed cemented the decision to remain on the side of the cyber-angels, and she instead pulled up whatever information could be found on the world in question.

"Thank you," Melaran replied with a grin. "I was starting to think we'd never catch up with him!" And he chalked up another instance of precognition in the works, all of which would be addressed when they tracked him down and could find out _why, why, WHY_?

Tarna smiled and proceeded to head back to the ship. "Finally, some clear and up-to-date information. Although... our description? I'm afraid to ask how specific this was. Let's just go."

"I'm not going to ask them," Melaran replied as they leave and head back. "I _am_ going to ask him though. There's a couple questions I'm just dying to hear the answers to." He chuckled lightly, mood echoing the weight of his step. "At least we can hope to find some answers in short order!"

"Indeed."

According to the starcharts, this planet Seldor Kaleri was the third planet in the Seldor system, locally refered to as Kaleri for short, but galactically called Seldor Kaleri to distinguish it from two other planets named Kaleri elsewhere in the galaxy. It was fairly far from here, galactically speaking.

Melaran wasted no time in getting the ship back up in the air, the course plotted, and then off toward the distant system. The chase might have been fun in ways, but seeing it ended would be satisfying.

"Off we go again," Tarna said, looking over the data that they had had on Seldor Kaleri. "Terrestrial planet, Alliance member world, inhabited by the Seldrites..."

She pulled up an image of one, a tall, thin being with blue skin, silver hair, and large, solid black eyes.

"This Alliance looks like a decent enough organization at first glance," Melaran said, drawing up some of the information that he was sure Vicky was even now pouring into the ship's computers, and wasn't the least surprised to be right. She came in darned handy, in some ways.

"They don't sound so bad," Tarna said, "Friendly enough. Disinclined to shoot strangers on sight. What's the catch?" She smirked.

"Yeah." Melaran grinned crookedly. "It does seem a bit too good to be true, doesn't it? But I suppose _everything_ doesn't have to have a dark side, right? Right? ... Okay, that's probably a pretty wild hope, but on the plus side _we_ shouldn't run afoul of it before we can get _out_ of here!"

Tarna snickered softly. "Hopefully their skeletons in their closets can stay firmly in their closets." She settled in for the trip.

"As long as those skeletons aren't ours, I agree wholeheartedly," Melaran chuckled in reply and settled in to do some reading through the new material to pass the time.

The Seldor system seemed slightly less industrialized than Laurm, although they used a different sort of technology base, apparently relying heavily upon crystals of various types. The automated sensor network in the system acknowledged their approach but didn't welcome or warn them away.

Having arrived, Melaran smirked and said quietly, "Of course now that we're here we'll probably find out that he's come and gone, just a glitch in the records."

The ship angled in toward the habitable area of the system to find a suitable place to land. There were a number of large cities on the planet, constructed of translucent crystal, almost seeming to have been grown rather than built or carved. The larger settlements were primarily built around or near water: lakes, rivers, islands, and such.

"Pretty place," Melaran remarked appreciatively as they approached one of the cities, which one being chosen pretty much at random. If Vistri was here they'd find him in due time or, more likely, he'd have left a way by which to contact him.

There was a platform for landing located conveniently jutting off from one of the larger crystal spires. A couple other ships were present, one of which was of the same class as one that they had seen over on Laurm. Most of them, though, were a sort of crystalline organic bluish vessel.

"I can see why this would appeal," Melaran murmured as he brought the ship down to the spire's landing field. Crystalline constructs had ever been favored by the Eldar as well, there was just something to be said for the natural beauty of them.

"Nice place," Tarna said, climbing out to take a good look around once they'd landed. Compared to Laurm, the place was quiet and peaceful, the water rippling several meters below them and reflecting the crystalline city and the early evening sky.

"Indeed it is," Melaran agreed readily, having left on Tarna's heels and now standing at her side to enjoy a closer look at the city's entrance and the ships nearby. "Come on." He tugged lightly at her arm and headed in the direction of the entrance.

Vicky was nowhere to be seen at the moment. She apparently stayed onboard for one reason or another. The Seldrite data crystals were less eager to offer basic information, but also somewhat less restrictive of what information they were willing to present given time searching and knowing where to look.

The blue-skinned Seldrites themselves looked down at Melaran and Tarna as they approached, having a good six inches to a foot on them in most cases.

"How novel," Melaran tepped dryly, "I can't remember the last time I had to look _up_ at someone."

He'd readily play the part of alien tourist, not minding in the least here since the scenery at least is quite pleasant, and would gather information as possible. Although not as friendly and eager as the cats, the Seldrites were accepting enough, fairly languid and in no great rush for anything. Some rooms along the corridor within the spire offered items for sale and services for hire, the signs labeled in both standard and a liquid, flowing script.

Melaran could probably spend a good deal of time just wandering around and seeing what the city had to offer... except that he seemed to have been infected by Tarna's general bug to keep moving, whether forward or some other totally random direction. After a brief touristy spell, he went in search of a government or some other sort of office that would facilitate the search.

The closest thing resembling an office or administration center would be one large room equipped with rows of crystalline data terminals, images shimmering within the crystals clearly and a few people at work here.

"I blame you, you know," Melaran remarked quietly to Tarna as he headed to a terminal and tried his hand at the search. "Once upon a time I was perfectly content to stand in one spot for hours on end without a twitch, but now I would find that dreadfully dull." He tsked and shook his head in mock sorrow. "You have been a terrible, horrible influence on this poor, innocent Eldar lad."

Tarna giggled softly.

The terminals appeared to use a partly neural interface, although some of them also include keypads for the comfort of alien visitors. Melaran would use whichever method seemed the most appropriate, or that was available to his use. Eldar constructions used psionic controls often enough, but whether the approach was the same or not he wouldn't know until the attempt. The psychic interface did readily respond to him, however, and made a soft bell sound to acknowledge his admittance into the system.

Melaran settled comfortably into the interface and started to do some searching for the presence of Vistri. He supposed a registry of citizens or resident aliens would be a good place to start. A moment of amusement was spared to think of their missing companion and imagining her frolicking in the data network like a porpoise in the sea.

After minimal searching in the right place, he did find someone matching the name and description of Vistri currently residing in a remote water cave village by the name of Sliar Vinta in the southern hemisphere.

Melaran drew back out of the interface with a grin. "Unless the records are out of date, looks like we're in luck," he said, "C'mon!"

He took off to trace the path back to the ship, eager to see the journey's end and answer a couple thousand nagging questions.

"Where are we heading now?" Tarna asked as she tagged along back toward the ship again.

"Just a hop, skip, and jump," Melaran replied cheerfully, "Found someone matching his description living in an obscure village in the middle of nowhere. Should be dead easy to locate him in a closed town like that."

"Sure thing," Tarna said, hopping back into the ship and glancing to see what Vicky'd been up to in the meantime.

Melaran ducked back to the cockpit and to the pilot's seat, readying the ship for departure.

Vicky looked up from a datapad as they entered and smiled in greeting, "Moving on so soon?" she asked, and fastened herself for the trip. She'd been listening to a bit of classical music while she read and surfed through the electron flows of the planetary datanet, and she dimmed its volume.

"Mel thinks we've found him," Tarna said, taking a seat. "So what's the name of this obscure village?"

"Sliar Vinta," Melaran replied with a shrug, edging the ship gently away from the pad and shifting to a course toward the village. "I didn't see a lot about it, but then I didn't look all that closely other than to make sure just where it was and that he was supposed to still be there."

Sliar Vinta was a subterranean town in a wide crystal cavern on the river Sliar. Glowing crystal lights illuminated the village and glistened off the wide water flowing languidly underneath the town's spires.

After finding a place to land and making the trip into the cavern, Melaran sighed. "Y'know, I could really get to like this place. It's _beautiful_." There was a wide, smooth ledge overlooking the river to land on, currently populated by a couple small air-cars.

Tarna went, "Mmm," and climbed out, looking around. "It is rather nice."

Melaran grinned at her. "Not that we're likely to stay anywhere for long, but I can still enjoy the scenery. Now! To find Vistri and see what he's been up to the last however many thousand years..."

Tarna chuckled and meandered off into the village, heading off along a graceful crystal arch bridge leading up to the main spire. This particular "building" extended from the top of the cavern down to the bottom of the river, and little windows with lights within could be seen along it.

Melaran wandered along largely aimlessly, enjoying the serenity and beauty of the setting, but he kept an eye out for signs of any of the residents. Chances were good that everyone knew everyone else in small communities like this. Several of them could be seen moving about the corridors inside. One small one, perhaps a little girl, approached them and looked up at them with wide eyes.

"Well hello there," Melaran greeted her with a cheerful smile. "I'm Melaran and this is Tarna, what's your name?"

"My name is Havin," she replied in stilted, precise Standard.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Havin," Melaran replied. "Do you know all of your neighbors and others who live here?"

She thought for a moment, and said, "No."

Melaran's smile broadened a bit. "Honest answer, that's good. Well, do you happen to know Vistri? Pretty unusual around here, I'd think, looking a bit like we do but with three eyes."

She thinks some more, and says, "No."

"Okay," Melaran nodded, cheerful still. "Can you tell me who might know more of the people who live here?"

Some more thought, and she said, "Elder Sildi."

"So where would I find Elder Sildi?" Melaran asked, unaccountably amused at the entire exchange.

She thought for a long moment again, and said, "I don't know."

Melaran laughed lightly. He'd half-expected that answer. "Well thank you for telling us who to see, we'd better head off to find him. Take care of yourself, Havin."

"Bye." She meandered off.

"That was a bit odd," Melaran tepped, still chuckling as he set back off to motion and continued to look for other residents or perhaps a central hall where people gather. He was really not in a hurry, being as close as they were.

Tarna chuckled softly. "Heh. Kids."

There was a large, crystalline fountain in the central gathering hall, delicately shaped of intricate formations and light sparkling off it in colored patterns that flickered about the walls. Several other Seldrites meandered around the large chamber or sat languidly on benches.

Melaran approached one of them and made a polite noise to draw their attention. "Would you happen to know where we could find Elder Sildi?"

"You could try the library or the meditation chambers, if he's not wandering around somewhere," replied the Seldrite.

"Thank you," Melaran replied politely and turned to leave, then checked himself. "Err, where would we find the library or meditation chambers?"

He pointed patiently off and gave brief directions to the places. "They should not be hard to find."

"Thanks." Melaran grinned, then headed off to try the nearer of the two first. Stranger in a strange land indeed.

The library reminded him of a smaller version of the room with the terminals back in the first city that they had been in, although there were fewer terminals and only one of them was equipped with a keypad. There were also shelves with various crystals on display on them, glowing with their own light. A couple Seldrites were present, one looking over a terminal and the other arranging crystals.

Melaran walked over toward the one arranging crystals and stopped at a polite distance. "Hi, I'm looking for Elder Sildi and was told he might be here. Have you seen him?"

"Elder Sildi? Not today, sorry."

Melaran offered a nod. "Thanks." Then he headed back out to find the meditation chambers. "I'll resort to an open channel and amplification," he tepped with dry humor to Tarna.

The meditation chambers, unsurprisingly, contains several Seldrites meditating. One younger one was outside the meditation cells cleaning. No need to disturb the ones meditating, Melaran decided, unless one of them turned out to be the Elder, and he approached the one cleaning to repeat his spiel of greeting and inquiry.

"Sorry, he left here an hour ago. Don't know where he was going," replied the youth.

"Alright, thank you," Melaran replied and turned away, mentally adding an "ARGH!" to that as he walked off. "I think I've had enough wandering around," he tepped, " _and_ looking for this Elder. Time to see if there isn't a more direct way to locate Vistri, provided he's not hiding himself."

He looked for a quiet and out of the way place to try a bit of Seeking. Sadly, he didn't have much luck in Seeking out Vistri nor Sildi. However... Vistri had no trouble finding him.


	8. What Have Three Eyes Seen?

Melaran felt the other's mind brush against his clearly, and suddenly knew where he was. Not exactly encouraging, Melaran sighed inwardly, but at least it served the purpose.

"Got it. Sort of," he tepped to Tarna and headed in the direction that the trace had provided him. A little ways north of the village itself, a small crystal spire coming out of the water, a narrow archway leading over toward it.

Melaran approaches the spire, admiring it for a moment before setting to look for an entryway and a means of drawing attention... not that he really had any worries in that regard, as Vistri clearly knew they were here.

The arch led off to an entryway, a couple windows and balconies dotting the spire as well. There was a crystal bell near the doorway, but like much of the buildings around this planet, the doorway didn't actually have a door. Melaran politely rang the bell to announce their arrival, then stepped just inside the doorway for a view within.

The entryway was spacious and lit by glowing crystals. Ferns and flowers set in ornate vases sat on the floor and on tables, and a large patterned rug covered the floor. Doorways led off to corridors and a stairway at the far end of the room led up and downstairs. A couple plush sitting chairs were arranged about the room.

Going any further without invitation would seem to be against general courtesy, and Melaran thought about it a moment before calling out, "Hello? Vistri?"

"Yes, I am here," a voice murmured in their minds, momentarily before the man descended the staircase, wearing a pink bathrobe and bunny slippers. "I was in the shower," he offered as means of explanation.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Melaran replied, making no comment on the attire, deliberately. "We can certainly come back at a more convenient time, if you like." A few more hours or a day wouldn't mean much.

He chuckled softly. "No, please, come in. I understand that you have come a long way."

"We have indeed," Melaran agreed, smiling as he walked in at the unspoken invitation. "Though I have a feeling you've been aware of that for quite a while now."

"More than you know and less than you would imagine," Vistri commented, gesturing to the chairs before taking a seat.

Melaran groaned at the cryptic statement, but headed over to perch at the edge of a seat so as not to cause any damage with his armor. "Please. It's been a _long_ road, any chance of just a little straightforward talk before taking the Farseer route?" He laced it with a deliberately light and almost laughing tone, intending no insult in it.

Vistri grinned faintly. "Would you care for something to eat or drink?" He looked over to them questioningly with three misty gray-blue eyes. His pale blond hair fell lightly about his pointed ears.

Melaran chuckled and nodded. "Sure, we've been on replicator rats for a while now, it'd be nice to get a taste of something that isn't from the ship."

Vistri nodded and stood, heading into the kitchen off to the left from the entry room. Refrigerated cabinets stored a variety of fruits, vegetables, fish and breads, as well as juices and wines. The dining table was a smooth sheet of crystal on legs that seemed to grow out of the floor, and the chairs likewise. Vistri poured some juice in crystal cups for them and brought out some sandwiches.

Melaran was more than a bit nervous about this whole thing, not that he showed it really, but how did you go about talking to someone who was older than anyone you've ever known? He grinned inwardly, well then again he'd dealt with Shazmar and Bob too, so that wasn't quite true... the levity eased the tension a bit and he waited politely for Vistri.

Vistri took a seat at the table, grabbed his own sandwich, and took a bite. "I imagine you have plenty of questions for me," he said.

Melaran took a drink, then snagged a bite of a sandwich as he thought about it. There were a _lot_ of things he was wondering about, but where to begin? "I suppose," he decided after the brief pause, "it all really comes down to _why_?" He grinned. "Lot of territory to cover with that one, though, so the first aspect I'll ask about is the one that really bugs me... Why did you want us to follow you?"

Vistri pondered for a moment. "I had hoped that someone might follow me eventually, although not necessarily specifically you. Reading the future across different universes is a difficult prospect, although certain things could be determined."

Melaran frowned a little. "Why were you hoping someone would follow you at all? Were you really lost? I guess I just really don't understand why you vanished before the El'dari were awakened and not seen since. They're a bit puzzled about that, too, at least the ones who don't think you're dead."

"Ah," Vistri said. "Yes. I would imagine so. It was, however, not yet time. There was yet Chaos in the universe, and the future held only more. I fear that had I awakened them before Chaos swept across the universe, they would have certainly been destroyed."

"They were in a pretty bad spot when Chaos from my native universe came through," Melaran admitted, "And they didn't seem all that well-prepared for the kind of war that would have been... that universe as a whole was unprepared for that kind of onslaught. But... why didn't you go back after? They're awake now, but some of them _are_ worried about you."

He smiled faintly. "That is why I had hoped someone would follow me. Because of the nature of the Chaos that was to come, I could not easily see past it, nor when it might end. I made certain to be well out of reach of the influence of such before the time came."

Melaran took a bite of the sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully, following it with a drink before going on, "But then what would you have done if someone _hadn't_?" He shook his head. "That wasn't really an issue, though, was it? You laid out a pretty solid bread crumb trail all the way here."

Vistri gave a nod. "Having entrusted the Key of Memory to the hands of another whom I had seen would survive the ages, I felt that at least someone would realize and come for me once the war had ended and reality returned to normal."

"No clue where the key ended up," Melaran replied with a half smile. "It could be just about anywhere from the hints we ran across on it. The path here was probably easier than digging that thing out is going to be... well, except for you maybe, your skills are far more substantial just from the hints we've seen."

Vistri gave a faint shrug. "If the El'dari are awake now, then, it is of little consequence, as the cavern with the books was opened long ago."

Melaran nodded. "An old friend of mine woke them up, though I don't know just how he went about it. You'd have to ask someone who was there." He chuckled.

"As well," Vistri said. "I am pleased that they are awakened. I would presume that it was determined safe by that point? That the ravages of Chaos were fully gone from the world?"

"I'm not sure just when they woke up," Melaran replied, "But I know that Chaos had left their system to strike at the Karzan by that point, at the least, and with the destruction of the old Chaos gods, the rest got cleaned up there." He didn't mention his or Tarna's role, that time one that he'd keep generally to himself.

Vistri gave a slightly puzzled look. "I do not believe that we speak of the same thing," he said over a bite of sandwich. "The incident of which I speak was far more wide-reaching and devastating than a mere invasion of a fleet, regardless of how large or powerful the fleet. The events I foresaw would have brought about the near-destruction of the entire universe and reversion to chaos. Did this not occur?"

"I seem to remember hearing something about that," Melaran said, "but it was quite a while before I'd even been introduced to the idea of multiple universes. The El'dari were awakened well past that period."

Tarna nodded in agreement. "The Planar Wars," she said. "They ended over a hundred and fifty years ago."

Vistri nodded. "Excellent. I had hoped that they would not result in the permanent destruction of the universe. But what is this you speak of a fleet and Chaos gods?"

"The foul gods from my native universe," Melaran replied, "and a black fleet that set out on one of their Crusades. Pretty nasty stuff, overall, and they caused damage to a lot of worlds across the two universes, but they got wiped out. The gods were destroyed by one of the Eldar gods, Khaine the Bloody-handed, and the fleet got taken care of by Karzan El'dari, Death Dancers, and some others."

Vistri absorbed this information thoughtfully. "This Karzan being another universe?" he mused. "Yes, I see. As well they were destroyed, then, but as inevitable for those of that type, new ones will rise to take their place and fill the vacuum left by their destruction, who may yet be worse still than they."

"Ech, I hope not," Melaran replied. "They were some really nasty people, with a real penchant for cruelty and destruction. If I had to pick a face of real 'evil' from what I've seen over my life, they'd be it."

Vistri nodded gravely and said, "I would hope that your wishes come to pass, however from my experience I have seen that such rarely happens."

Melaran made a face. "Well that's a cheerful thought," then chuckled and shrugged, "Sure it'll work out in the end, either way, there's some big people out there keeping an eye on things and some good people just looking out on the smaller scale."

Vistri gave a helpless shrug with a faint smile, finished up his sandwich and washed it down with some juice. "So. Tell me, then, of the El'dari. Are they well?"

"They looked like they were doing very well," Melaran replied, "They had some allies working to protect the area too, the... Zephyli, was it? Something like that. Winged and fuzzy, they seemed like good people. Didn't see much of the technology I would have expected, but the long sleep probably ruined a lot of that and it'll take a while to rebuild from scratch."

Vistri gave a nod. "Much as to be expected. I had encountered the Zephyli briefly during my time on Silthor -- Lezaria, that is."

Of course Melaran didn't know that Iyanden would be showing up soon to lend a hand, or that the Katharn from the Dyson sphere were also relocated there, but those details would doubtless have pleased Vistri as well. "So are you going to go back there?" he asked, "Or have you made this your home now?"

"My time here has been pleasant and not objectionable," Vistri commented. "But I believe it is likely time for my self-imposed exile to come to an end. I must return to my native universe in order to properly view the future as it may be from there. I would welcome seeing the El'dari once again, even if my own people are long dead and gone."

"I think they'd probably like that," Melaran smiled, a hint of melancholy to it. "Keeping in touch with familiar old friends seems to be part of the blood, no matter what universe it comes from."

"Even though I am not an El'dari myself, I appreciate their company," he said, looking off thoughtfully.

"And you can catch up on all the things that've happened since you were there last," Melaran said, "Thousands of years of history should be an interesting pastime when you have the ability and skill to go sifting through and _see_ what happened."

"It is only since this Planar Wars, as you call it, that I was truly blind. With hope, that blindness will not extend both ways across it."

"I don't really know, I tried to get an idea of things that had happened in the caverns with all the portals," Melaran said, "But I'm still not sure I really _saw_ anything or if it was something you'd done to make the trail more accessible."

Vistri nodded. "I had left a psychic imprint in the area to indicate which portal I had taken, that would activate only for one of similar enough blood."

"So," Melaran replied ruefully, "I don't really know. I'm still working on all of this, and it's taken time. You should be able to get a reading on the situation in short order when you get there, though."

"I am not overly concerned," Vistri said. "That the universe is safe and my children yet live is sufficient. Til'raine was destroyed of arrogance, and Vel'kira of foolishness, I have hopes that something, yet, may survive of it."

"The El'dari certainly seem to be doing well enough," Melaran said, "And the Eldar are fine, the Elorai'isin, well..." He shrugged. "Any way you look at it, though, the bloodline does seem to be surviving quite well and probably will keep right on doing so. Not as stubborn and persistent as humans maybe, they're like galactic cockroaches, but still tenacious enough."

"Perhaps I am the last of the Til'dari," Vistri mused. "I doubt if any of the others survived, they did so in any recognizable shape or form. But it is possible..."

"I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand," Melaran replied, "It takes a lot to totally wipe a species out, even those who do it to themselves. Then you factor in the long-lived nature of the blood... you'd almost have to assume there'd be a few running around out there."

Vistri smiled sadly. "But those who refused to leave Til'raine, not much was left of their minds or bodies. More and more mutants such as myself were being born as the unleashed ethereal energies enfolded the planet. And many of those were not sane. As time went on, their mutations became more and more extreme, as did their madness."

"Errr..." Melaran looked a little green at the idea, but rallies bravely. "Not much to be said about those who refused to leave, but I can't believe that at least a few of them didn't have a moment of sanity before everything melted down and make a run for it. Even Chaos wasn't _that_ suicidal... well, much."

"When we realized what was going on, we created the artificial world of Vel'kira, and took what could be salvaged there," Vistri went on. "Vel'kira was a vast, beautiful world, lit by tall, shining lamps above the cities, and a Nexus in the capital city of Til'aris provided transportation..."

"Like the one in Torn Elkandu?" Melaran asked with bright curiosity, he still remembered the weird sense of recognition and finding out that it was connected to the El'dari through the books that had been stolen... retrieved... whatever.

Vistri nodded. "Oh, yes. The Elkandu had later found the books we had written, and stumbled upon the primary Nexus in Til'aris, renaming it Torn Elkandu. There were also smaller ones throughout all of the cities of the Vel'dari Empire to provide transportation. Some of the more remote towns were more xenophobic and some hated mutants, some hated magic in any form, some were positively fanatical about it... But they were left to themselves for the most part. Still, it was a foolish researcher in the dark wilderness who caused the destruction of the artificial plane..." He sighed. "Insufficient safeguards, against someone attempting to use Void Magic with a modicum of power necessary to make him truly dangerous to himself and those around him."

Melaran winced at that last, having worried all too much about just that sort of thing himself. That was going to take a great deal of work and practice to get past, but he had certainly discovered and settled on his _motivation_ for pursuing it.

"Yeah," he managed after a moment, "That sort of thing _can_ be just a bit dangerous, can't it? Sounds like it was a long time ago, though."

"He was an inborn Void Mage and did not fully realize it," Vistri said. "It was around a hundred thousand years ago."

Melaran coughed on a bit of sandwich gone suddenly dry in his throat at the reminder of just how _old_ this guy was, then hurriedly took a swallow of his drink.

"Uh, yeah," he said, "I can't imagine that there aren't still some of them running around someplace, hiding in the corners of the galaxy maybe. I'm sure Shazmar would know, he seems to have a fondness for the El'dari."

"El'dari was the name given to those who left Til'raine and colonized the stars," Vistri said. "They were stigmatized and considered exiles, lesser beings, by the Til'dari, though not so much so by the Vel'dari."

"Well Shazmar _is_ a god," Melaran replied, "and he's a pretty decent sort if you can deal with his sense of humor," he grinned and shrugged, "You should ask him when you get back to the area, his temple's practically right next door in Torn Elkandu."

"I am aware of him and would prefer to keep my dealings with him to a minimum, no offense."

Melaran chuckled quietly,. "Yeah, I can understand that, I'd probably have run screaming in horror if I hadn't already dealt with my native universe's equivalent shortly before that. Even so, the El'dari will probably be damned glad to see you again and you'll find plenty to keep you busy just on that end."

 _He_ would probably ask Shazzy, though, he didn't mind taking the chance with the quixotic god.

Vistri gave a nod. "I must prepare for my departure and inform my friends here that I will be leaving. I trust you will remain for a few days in the meantime? You are more than welcome here."

"That'd be great." Melaran smiled. "And there's no rush at all to wrap things up _right now_ anyway, the trail was quite a while in the following and the time before that..." He chuckles. "I doubt that a few days or more will hurt anything at all."

Besides, Vicky had been entirely too placid upon their arrival. He suspected she was enjoying the experience on another level entirely. May as well indulge it.

Vistri smiled faintly and said, "Please, make yourselves comfortable, I have guest rooms upstairs that have not been used in a few decades, and the kitchen is well-stocked. I will go begin contacting them, then." He stood and gave a nod to them and left the room.

Melaran tepped a message to the now-familiar mind of Vicky to explain their status and the plan to stay for a few days, and inviting her to stay there as well. She politely declined, though, stating a desire to catch up on some reading... a euphemism for scooping every scrap of data she could possibly lay her mind on, he was quite sure, and he nodded in amusement. She'd be dangerous if she wasn't essentially a moral being.

He stood and stretched, glancing over at Tarna with a lopsided grin. "Well, the easy part's over," he said, "Now comes the waiting."

Tarna said, "Hey, I'm sure you're not going to mind hanging around here for a while. It's a nice place, let's do some sightseeing. Or something."

Melaran chuckled. "It is at that," he agreed, "and it'll be nice to stretch our legs in totally normal, natural surroundings rather than some bizarre gift of Bob. I also get the feeling that it's going to be difficult to pry Vicky away for at least a day or two anyway, she sounded just a little too happy to be left to her own devices."

"Hopefully, she won't get us arrested for anything, either," Tarna said brightly. She stood and stretched.

"They'd need to catch her first," Melaran quipped, then smirked. "Of course, I think I'll prefer to think that she won't let her insatiable quest lead her into areas that she's not supposed to go. Much more relaxing to think that, yes." The smirk shifted to a grin as he made a decided point of watching her stretch and wagged a brow, then chuckled. "So where do _we_ begin? Not much chance or reason to get too familiar with the natives, but it looks like there's plenty of places we can just go and explore in the next few days."

"I dunno, let's head down by the water, shall we? I thought I saw something resembling docks or fishing or boats or something down there..."

"Really?" Melaran looked surprised, but heads for the door. "I didn't notice anything, but I suppose I could have missed it since I tend to get a little single-minded at times when I get stuck in full-forward mode."

Tarna chuckled softly, poked him gently, and headed outside and looked about for a way down. Finding one winding set of stairs heading down to the edge of the water, she followed it.

Melaran thoroughly enjoyed the periods of time where events were either non-pressing or could be ignored, and he followed with a light step. When she found the stairs leading down, he played mountain goat with the aid of his armor and hopped lightly down nearby with a merry tune at his lips... of course knowing his luck, he'd end up hitting a loose rock and doing a head-first tumble out of control, but that was all part of the fun!

He managed to avoid falling and breaking his neck. Tarna giggled at him. Some of the fishermen around the docks glanced up from the water strangely at them as they approached. Bob had done Melaran a favor in more ways than one, the very ability to throw aside all cares and just _enjoy_ life with a light heart was a concept that would have been strange to him otherwise.

He grinned as she got to the bottom, delighting in the bubble of amusement he'd brought Tarna. "Think we can find a spare boat or convince the loan of one?"

"Maybe," Tarna said, grinning toward the Seldrites working around the docks. Future sushi could be seen stored nearby as well for later transport upstairs. A few small boats were docked at the piers along the shoreline, graceful organic forms that almost seemed alive.

Melaran headed cheerfully in the direction of the small boats, ones that wouldn't be any difficulty for he and Tarna to manage... not that he knew a bloody thing about boats, but he was willing to float with the idea. Find out who owned what, first, since they wouldn't want to borrow something that was needed for a day's work.

At the end of the far pier, he saw an elderly Seldrite tying up a small boat to the dock and hauling off some fish.

"'Scuse me?" Melaran asked brightly as he approached the elderly alien, "Could you use a bit of a hand there?" May as well help out a little, even if the boat wasn't available.

He welcomed the help, and said, "Thank you there, boy. Never thought I would complain about catching too many fish."

Melaran helped unload the fish, thankful that it was nothing more than basic manual dexterity and strength involved and not wanting to imagine what a _pain_ this sort of work had to be on a regular basis!

"Glad to help out," he said, then grinned. "Though I'll admit it's not _totally_ without harmless ulterior motive."

The old man made an amused sound and said, "What do you need, boy?"

"Welllll..." Melaran drug it out, unloading another part of the catch, then shared a conspiratorial look with the old man in Tarna's direction as his voice dropped to a stage whisper, "The lady and I are visiting Vistri, and since we're going to be here for a couple days she got her heart set on going on a scenic tour of the waterways. Could I call on your kind nature to help _me_ out with a boat loan for a few hours?"

"Heh. Go ahead, I need a break anyway. Just don't break anything and be sure to bring her back in one piece," he said.

Melaran grinned again. "Oh she'll be in good hands, I promise. Nary a scratch, you've got my word, and my deepest thanks."

"Have fun now, kids," he said, heading off inside.

Tarna chuckled softly and looked over to the boat. Melaran turned to Tarna and offered an elaborate, sweeping bow, gesturing her to the craft.

"Your vessel awaits, milady." He chuckled softly as he straightened. "Though now that we're here, I _do_ hope you know something about boats. My knowledge goes as far as being able to recognize them and they float."

"No idea," Tarna said brightly, climbing aboard with a giggle and a wink. As she didn't immediately overturn the boat and fall out, she was hopefully joking.

"Well, on the plus side," Melaran replied with mock fatalism and carefully moved to board. "If we start to sink, I can just put on my helmet and fly out of harm's way. Not sure what _you're_ going to do..." He grinned. "Though I suppose I _might_ be persuaded to perform a search and rescue."

Tarna snickered softly and untied the boat. There were no oars nor a motor, however, but it seemed to know where they want to go and move accordingly.

"How do you fly... drive..." Melaran looked puzzled and laughed. "What _do_ you do with a boat, exactly? Other than enjoy the scenery as you drift aimlessly along, anyway."

"Steer, I think," she commented. "But I don't know, there's no oars or rudder or anything... this is weird."

Melaran thought about it, then hmmed. "They do seem to have an awful lot of psychic interfaces, I wonder..." and just out of morbid curiosity poked around for a connection of some sort.

He didn't quite find one, and Tarna snickered s softly. "Well, let's see." The boat stopped. "Hmm." The boat went backwards for a moment. "Right." The boat started forward again.

"Well at least _one_ of us knows how to run this thing," Melaran chuckled and sat there, a bit stiffly, his bravado about the water notwithstanding, it was very odd to be surrounded by it and seeing it pass sedately along.

"Oh, I've no idea how to run it," Tarna said. "I just thought I wanted it to stop and go backwards and it did."

"Okay, that's odd," Melaran replied, looking about the boat a bit curiously and wondering just what it _was_. Her answer would suggest it had some sort of basic sentience. Did their spacecraft as well? He shrugged and eased up a bit to grin. "At least we can get from point A to point B and back again, that's the main thing. And taking a look around, of course."

Tarna chuckled softly. The boat drifted on peacefully up the river, seeming unimpeded by the current. The crystal formations overhead glowed faintly and provided lighting. With a little more familiarity with the boat's movements, Melaran could let himself relax and went to lounge near Tarna.

"This really is a beautiful place," he tepped, slipping back into the habit without any particular explanation or reason. "I wonder if Vistri's going to miss it?"

"I suppose, probably," she replied. "But then he's so _old_ , he must have seen all kinds of places he misses... Like Til'raine and Vel'kira that he was talking about..."

"There's something in that," Melaran replies with a blanch. "I mean we've dealt with gods, both of which most sane people would flee from for the love of their souls, but they were just... I don't know, just not as _real_ as someone living and breathing who's that old. Very creepy, in a way."

"He seemed perfectly sane and normal, though," she added, watching the crystals drift past. "Well, as normal as a guy with three eyes gets, at least."

Melaran chuckled quietly. "I can only hope we're both that sane when we're anywhere near that old. But..." He tilted his head, looking up at the crystal patterns. "Vicky's not that old, but a hell of a lot older than anything I'd met until Vistri, I suppose sanity must be a definite survival trait."

"Yeah, I don't think by the time we get to be that age, we'll be summoning demons and babbling incoherently in perverse, forgotten languages. Well, I hope not at any rate."

"Don't worry," Melaran teased lightly. "You start in on that and I'll make sure you get locked away someplace until you're cured, and no breaks for crazy adventures until you are!"

"Oh, good. Demons are such house wreckers, anyway," Tarna replied jovially, looking off at the water.

"I don't know," Melaran replied, smiling. "I seem to remember hearing of at least one that wasn't _that_ terribly bad. Just goes to show that people can change when they have the right reasons to."

"Heh. Well, some of the Elkandu demons I've known aren't especially demonic, anyway. But then you just have to worry about them making off with your punch and cake, and not trying to steal your soul."

"Better than the real thing any day," Melaran replied with feeling. "I'm quite, quite glad the old Chaos gods are gone and hopefully took their psychotic little friends with them. The universe can use a little break to heal itself up, and some people running around to toss a bandage on here and there."

"I'm kind of afraid Vistri might've been right, but at least we won't have to deal with that anyway for the moment." She shrugged.

"I can _hope_ he's wrong," Melaran tepped, "Even if I know logically that he's probably right. No need to borrow trouble, not when we'd probably see it one way or another eventually. Bob and Shazmar..." He smirked and snorted, then looked over at her. "Which reminds me, I was thinking of asking Shazmar about any other survivors when we get back, since Vistri won't. What do you think, good or bad idea?"

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Tarna replied. "About what might have survived something like that, and what their state of sanity or lack thereof might be. And for that matter, he'd likely be unhelpful and evasive, or end up telling us things we really didn't actually want to know, or something."

"There is that," Melaran agreed, nodding and looking back to the setting. "Though if there _was_ something out there that crazy, he just might not be..." He chuckled softly. "And here I said not to borrow trouble, and I'm supposed to be the stable one to keep _you_ from getting us into too much trouble. You're probably right, it'd be a bad idea."

"Sides, he'd probably say something crazy and messed up like the Chaos gods were actually originally from Til'dar or something." Tarna snickered.

Down a narrower stretch of river and out again, they emerged in a large, sparkling pool with a small waterfall tumbling down at the far end of the cavern. Fish could be seen moving in the clear waters below, crystal light glinting off their scales.

"How do we know they're not?" Melaran smirked. "Bob's not exactly any more forthcoming about information unless he's in the right mood. Better not to tempt the gods, I suppose."

He looked around appreciatively as they emerged into the stunning grotto, a smile rising without any thought as he drank in the tranquil beauty of the place.

"Hmm," he tepped with a hint of mischief. "I wonder if there's a cave back there or a nice, secluded beach..."

Tarna chuckled softly. "Mmm. Couldn't hurt to take a look, eh? This place is very nice..."

"Yes, let's," Melaran agreed, and grinned. "I'm sure we can find a place to fully enjoy the setting that nature so thoughtfully provided, Besides, you wouldn't want to have to admit to a poor, lonely old man that I'm a scoundrel and a deceiver, would you? Scoundrel only, if you please!"


	9. Child of Iyanden

Vistri's "a few days" ended up turning into a week before he was packed and ready and had sent off messages. When you were as old as he was, you ended up being in no particular hurry to do much of anything, clearly.

Melaran wasn't in any particular mood to rush the man along, enjoying the change of pace and scenery. He supposed he'd have to chalk this up as the long delayed vacation that Bob had promised them. They weren't stuck on the ship, nothing was shooting at them, and there was more than enough to occupy their time... yep, definite vacation material. Nothing to complain of when it drew to a close, though.

There was, he mused, a limit to how much relaxation one could indulge in, and that was a little tinged with anxiety after a few days had passed and Vicky still hadn't emerged for any length of time from the ship. He really didn't want to know what she'd been up to for a _week_.

Once his affairs were in order, Vistri announced a day in advance that he was prepared to leave in the morning, which ended up being more of the afternoon. Melaran lounged and waited patiently for their guest to be ready to leave, and offered to lend a hand where useful. Vicky, meanwhile, spent the morning actually out and about, deciding for a brief tour and finally setting up near the docks to do some more reading and surfing.

When Vistri finally arrived, he was carrying the last load of stuff over to the ship. He didn't, of course, still have the piece of junk he had flown out from the Taburi base in, but he seemed rather attached to his potted plants and a little pet lizard who seemed to spend all its time asleep.

"Ready to go?" Melaran inquired with an easy grin, unfolding from his lazing about and brushing idly at his shipsuit to scatter a bit of accumulated debris.

"I believe so, yes," Vistri said. "I do not think that I have forgotten anything of note."

Tarna did not comment that she would be shocked if he had forgotten everything with all he was bringing. Melaran's thoughts weren't too far off from her own, personally wondering what in the world the man was going to do with the sheer volume of _stuff_ that had been unearthed from his living space. There were distinct advantages to the spartan lifestyle of the Eldar, a few minutes and you could have everything important to you and be out the door ahead of the howling hordes of the enemy of the week.

"Sounds good," was all he said, "Let's get going then, the trip back is a pretty long one."

Melaran headed into the ship and goes through some pre-takeoff checks for a few minutes, unsurprised as Vicky showed up in short order. She'd been monitoring the ship's systems and sensors, naturally, and had started back when the three had all been gathered together.

Vistri had clearly had far too many millennia of relative peace and quiet. And avoiding any particular issues such as that by looking into the future and being lightyears away by the time anyone bothered attacking him.

Tarna chuckled softly, and nodded, took a last look back to the crystal village and the water before boarding the ship with the others.

"Now you're sure that there's nothing you're forgetting," Melaran glanced over at Vistri. "Or anything that you need to do in this universe before we head back?"

Vicky tossed herself into a seat off to the side and goes through some of the music that she had stored, trying to decide what she felt like listening to and inflicting on her traveling companions.

Tarna snickered softly.

Vistri said, "No, I am quite certain that everything is in order. I have my Kaleran lilies, my Shorm rug, and Otto, of course." He indicated the tiny lizard asleep on his shoulder.

"Alrighty then," Melaran chuckled and lifted the ship, its prow swivelling neatly to point in the direction leading out of the cavern and then edging forward with a smooth thrum of power.

Apparently Vicky decided on Tchaikovsky, as music began playing softly in the background as she looked at the lizard curiously, "What species is it?" she asked, her tone guaranteeing other questions to come.

Vistri replied, "He is a Mourdian lizard-newt." He watched the planet as they left.

Rather than pester the man with questions, Vicky pulled up what information was available on the creatures from the Alliance data she'd accumulated. There was quite a lot of it, from the mundane to things that they probably would have been very upset about, but she didn't dwell on it and instead studied the references to the animal at a leisurely rate as the ship moved onward. Apparently, the Mourdian lizard-newts were a sort of amphibian/reptile that could survive for hundreds of years, but spent 99% of their time asleep and lounging around.

Melaran brought the ship to a halt in orbit, turning its nose planetward to give a last good look at the world. There was always something majestic about getting this kind of view, regardless of the type of world you happened to be near. After a few minutes, he turned the ship away and moved further outward to reach the limit where they could translate over to ethereal travel. Tarna and Vistri watched quietly as they left. Vistri seemed almost a little sad about it, but he relaxed and leaned back, closing all three eyes and listening to the music.

The habits of the lizards drew a grin from Vicky as she compared them to the common Terran house cat. She, at least, would be perfectly content for the entirety of the return trip, there was never a shortage of things to do... cross-referencing data and creating theoretical models of biological forms and their behaviors was always interesting, as was examining old war records and re-enacting the scenarios.

Melaran did a final check on the status of the warp engines, then ramped the power upward and broke into the ethereal to begin the long journey back to the Elkandu universe.

* * *

So, the four of them had some fair amount of relaxation, some training, and the like. However, it was Vicky who first noticed something Melaran apparently entirely missed. Apparently, at some point or another, it would appear that Tarna had become pregnant. It would also appear to be female, as well. If Tarna had noticed, though, she hadn't said anything yet.

Three months travel time... not necessarily a bad thing with good company, but it was still a confining condition and grated at the tendency to remain continually on the move, actively _doing_ something. Melaran dealt with it relatively well, but still managed to get underfoot now and again with a bit of nervous energy. Gone were the days of being able to stand eternally in one spot thanks to Bob, but it had its compensations.

Vicky didn't seem affected in the least, a singularly unfair state of affairs to his mind, and seemed completely content to pursue her own physical training in between long bouts of diverting the odd Vistri on one subject or another. Compared to nine or so millennia without any intelligent contact at all, this was a positively energetic setting and she enjoyed the opportunities presented with great enthusiasm.

She wasn't quite certain whether to mention the biological change she'd noticed in Tarna, the situation certainly never one she'd encountered on this level. Neither of them had said anything on the matter, though, and she was left wondering if they were aware of it at all and the necessities it would entail. Privacy or welfare, a most delicate dilemma. After a bit of deliberation, she decided to approach Tarna after a training session.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked tentatively.

Tarna stretched a bit, relaxing, and said, "Sure, what's up?" She gestured vaguely at a chair and goes to sit down.

Vicky looked around, appearing vaguely apprehensive as she checked to make sure that there was no one in immediate listening distance... then shook her head minutely and decided on a more secure method of communication.

"I don't know if you've realized yet or not," she sent, "You haven't said anything, and neither has Melaran, which makes me wonder if, well, that is, did you know you're pregnant?"

Tarna blinked for a moment, clearly surprised, and proceeded to confirm for herself. "No... I didn't know... I've never been... pregnant before... I... Oh my."

"I wasn't sure, and then I thought that, and..." Vicky colored slightly and stepped firmly on the scattering train of words. "I wanted to make sure you were aware, there are decisions which are best made early as well as ideal methods for pre-natal care in the event that path is chosen. I'm sorry to surprise you so, but it worried me."

"Oh, don't worry, you did the right thing," Tarna reassured her. "Oh my, what am I going to tell Mel? How is he going to react?" she thought half to herself.

"I could extrapolate from a great deal of material dealing with psychology," Vicky replied calmly, then smiled, "but I think you'd really do best just telling him simply and work from there."

Tarna snickers softly. "Yes, of course, of course." She stood up and said, "I'd best go... do that then... Thanks."

"Good luck." Vicky smiled, then turned to tinker with the ship's computer, humming a little to herself and digging through her memory for the billion or so references to children, birth and feeding thereof.

Melaran was found easily enough, it wasn't like there were all that many places to be on the ship, the pocket realm providing a serene setting for him to meditate at the edge of a crystal clear spring among a bower of towering, slender trees.

Tarna approached him quietly, taking a seat nearby. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she tepped gently at him.

The scene matched the quiet tranquility of Melaran's mind at the moment, a lot of hard work and patience returning a semblance of the control he'd had before Bob had taken a scalpel to his brain but maintaining the flexibility needed to look beyond the limits of what was.

"Of course not," he tepped back with welcoming warmth, dispelling the trance. "Something come up? We didn't run across another storm, did we?" He smirked.

"Oh, no, everything's quiet as you could hope for outside," Tarna replied. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about..."

Melaran unfolded from his kneeling position and stretched out lazily on the grass near her, head propped on one hand, and smiled. "Well that's a relief, I don't know if our luck would hold out for that much of a detour again!" He chuckled softly then went on, "So what's on your mind, milady?"

Tarna chuckled softly and tepped, "Vicky just told me... I'm pregnant..." Her own mental voice sounded fairly disbelieving, if she hadn't seen it with her own senses...

That hadn't been anywhere near the ballpark of conversation Melaran had expected, and he blinked in surprise. "What? Are you sure? When? Ho..." He caught himself suddenly and smiled ruefully. "Okay, that caught me off-guard, but I'll stop babbling..." His expression sobered and he studied her intently as he pushed up to a sitting position. "What're you thinking right now?"

"I'm not sure," Tarna replied. "I've... I've never been pregnant before, it came as a surprise to me too... Just... wow... Um... Yeah."

"Yeah," Melaran agreed, then scooted over to draw her close with a circling arm. "What do you want to do? I know it's kind of an abrupt question, but it's something to decide..."

It had definitely caught him out of the blue, but after the first rush of confusion there were certain almost-genetic predispositions that shaped his own opinion for the most part.

"I don't know... I really don't know... I'd suggest running an aura analysis for matches against the Eyes of Truth's database to see if it's anyone that's died recently, but I've heard it's hard to tell until after it's born sometimes since the auras tend to mingle... or something..."

Melaran blinked and looked down at her. "What?"

"Sorry... Guess I'm babbling too... Um..." Tarna laid back and looked upwards at nothing in particular. "Well, I meant for rebirth and all..."

Melaran stretched out again, head propped, and made a face, "Rebirth... not sure I want to think about that one. Afraid that's not really something the Eldar had to worry about. Just what could happen?"

"Well, in the past, it could have been anyone, living or dead, whether before or after... non-linear rebirths got extremely confusing, from what I hear. Thankfully, that doesn't happen anymore. So hence it could be anyone that's dead that hasn't been otherwise reborn, nor had their soul been destroyed, that is with soulfire or the like. Hence it's not especially likely to be Aitur."

"Does the same thing apply in any other universe?" Melaran wondered. "I... can't say that I'd want a child to be anything but... gah, that sounds horrible! We should be talking names or other things, not having to worry about someone dead coming back as _our_ baby!"

Tarna chuckled and said, "Well, relax. The vast majority of the time, people never remember their past lives without outside interference, anyway. And those that do, don't start to do so before they reach puberty, anyway."

"Still," Melaran muttered, then sighed. "Okay, so if there isn't anything to be done about it _anyway_ , that still leaves the question open as to what to do. Ultimately that's your choice, and I'll stand by it whatever it may be."

Heading off to hell, dropping onto a Tyranid hiveworld, dropping in on relatives... he'd already decided he was sticking with her and this certainly didn't change that.

Tarna chuckled. "I can get Vicky on it, I suppose. She should be able to figure that out if it's in the database, I guess..."

"So," Melaran looked a little puzzled. "If there's a match in there, what then?"

The idea of it was enough to make his head hurt, and to want to throttle Shazmar for allowing such a screwy system that could make an otherwise simple decision into one based on a record search... there was something inherently wrong with that.

"I'm not sure. I guess it depends on who it is. Some people are picky about what they're named..." She shrugged. "Shall we get Vicky to take a look then?"

"Yeah," Melaran replied and got up, brushing a few stray grass bits off and not looking very happy about the bizarre twist... and she'd once said the Elkandu were a predictable sort of crazy? Hah! Well, they were. Kind of. Sort of. Once you got used to the emphasis they put on the whole rebirth thing at least.

Tarna stood up and stretched and brushed herself off, and headed off to find Vicky, flashing him a reassuring smile and going to give him a squeeze first.

Melaran hugged her, then trailed off after her with quiet resignation. There wasn't anything he knew of that could be done at this point, and didn't even have a clue as to what sorts of people this database would keep track of and... he was really not very happy about the Elkandu, just at the moment, but it might pass with time. Maybe.

Vicky was right where Tarna had seen her last. She didn't tend to move around all that much unless something specific was going on. There wasn't any real need to when your mind could find all the entertainment required and never grow the least bored sorting through the most ridiculous seeming things.

She looked up as they came back and smiled. "Well hey there, how's it going?" she asked with a pointed look at Tarna.

Tarna grinned at her and said, "I was wondering, you're still in contact with the Eyes of Truth's database, right? I know it keeps records of a number of the more prominent Elkandu, with aura pattern records... Could you do a search to see if there's any match for the aura pattern of the.. the baby?" She about stumbled over the word. Even if it was technically more of an "embryo" at the moment than a "baby".

"Well yes, of course I am." Vicky blinked. "But... I'll check."

It wasn't a section of data she'd seen any great use for, considering they were _dead_ after all, but then it would appear that... she set the metaphysical theory and equations to running on a subprocessing cycle and focused on scanning the required database and checking against the fetus.

Early as it was, there are already distinct colors present in Tarna's aura that were not present before, presumably due to the second soul in her body at the moment. The vibrant lavender and magenta of Catalysm and Illusion, a brighter light green of Seeking than was normally available. There might or might not also be Mind, Dream, or Motion, as it would be hard to distinguish those from Tarna's normal aura colors.

Vicky was used to dealing with razor thin variations, so any differences of even the smallest margin would be recognizable in a familiar aura. She went through the database and checks against the entries on file, generating a list of likely or possible prospects in an 80% or better probability range.

Possible matches might included Calring Chelseer, who could be ruled out as she's still alive and her Seeking wasn't that high, Pelarin Zetha could be ruled out as she has the Seeking and Illusion but not the Catalysm, not to mention that she was known to have been reborn as Azale, leaving the most likely prospect on that power level to be Sharina Kell.

Were the powers any less strong and bright, it could be quite a lot of things, but at that level, there were few possibilities. And Sharina Kell's talents are given as Catalysm, Illusion, Seeking, and Motion. Her status, however, was only listed as "Unknown - Presumed dead". On the other hand, it was not unheard of to gain or lose entire talents through rebirth, leaving even that identification as not a positive one.

Considering the Eyes of Truth's scanning capabilities, Vicky had little doubt that this person being alive would show up somewhere along the way, which sent her to retrieve what information was available on the person. Once that was in hand, she turned back to them, "Due to the inherent instability of the system as designated in my research, I can't guarantee this, but there is a tentative identification."

She provided the reference material, including the cross-check of the two patterns and a point by point comparison. This sort of imprecision wasn't something she was accustomed or pleased at being reduced to, but as the circumstances warrant... she sighed inwardly. The Eyes of Truth information about aura identification of an infant also mentions that the distinctive pattern of their aura, like a fingerprint, could be discerned to give a positive match, but that wasn't possible until after birth.

Tarna looked over the data and said, "Sharina Kell?"

Vicky relayed the qualifier of a possibility of post-birth verification, as well as brought up the information she found in the Eyes' computer regarding Sharina Kell. Busy woman, without a doubt, and not always keeping the most savory of company...

"Yeah, I've heard plenty about that one..." Tarna said, frowning. "Everything from her being a megalomaniac nutcase, to being a hero."

"Much like any other sentient in history," Vicky temporized, not really wanting to influence them in one way or another. The idea was quite alien to her experience to begin with and she certainly wasn't qualified to... Biological lifeforms were so odd.

Melaran looked over the display and looked somewhat torn. "I have to agree, sort of, though I can't say I'd have affiliated myself with any of..." He sighed and turned away from the display, _really_ not happy about this twisted development now.

Tarna raised an eyebrow, looking over to him. "Something wrong?" she asked gently, putting a hand on his arm.

Melaran smiled crookedly. "I'm sorry, I just... I just don't know what to think about this being nothing more than a vehicle for some potentially psychotic being to return to a life that might be better off without them... gah."

Tarna squeezed his hand, and said, "Relax. She'll remember nothing, remember? And I heard as much good as bad about her... Think of it more of a second chance... There's the potential for a lot of good as well..."

"Yeah," Melaran replied, rallying a little at least, "And maybe keep history from repeating itself, eh?"

How in the world did these people deal with lunacy on this scale? The idea was... there wasn't any way to properly describe what he was thinking at this particular instant.

Vicky, meanwhile, went back to studying the various records involving the woman and was quite happy to avoid being placed in the position to make that particular decision. This odd process of rebirth seemed a very haphazard and not very logical, or even necessarily safe idea.

Perhaps a part of the reason her last life was so schizophrenic and unstable was because her father "helpfully" subjected her to recovering her memories at a very young age, which included very vivid detail of being captured and tortured to death by Darkhammer agents. He even insisted on "kindly" naming her for her last life, even though "Kell" was not his family name.

Tarna said, "So. What shall we call her? While 'Sharina' is a very nice name and all, I'd rather not tie her too strongly to that...'

Oh yes, Vicky could readily determine the likely causes as well as the potential mental disorders which were involved gauged by psychological case study comparisons as well as the woman's actions. She idly worked on a psych profile for each of the segments recorded in the Eyes' database, modeling them in a sealed partition that had zero chance of finding itself mislaid within Mel or Tarna's reach.

"No," Melaran agreed firmly, "If there won't necessarily be any memory restored anyway, there's no reason to provide an artificial link. Hmm..." Well, at least he appeared to be coming to some sort of rational grip and acceptance of the thing. "Something to give some thought to?" He grinned lamely. "I know _I_ wasn't thinking ahead to this, and I don't think you were either...."

Tarna chuckled. "Yeah, no doubt. Plenty of time to think over and pick something nice and fitting."

"I'm not unhappy about this," Melaran tepped gently, "Not at all, it's just the rebirth angle that really threw me off." He smiled apologetically and shrugs.

"Don't worry about it. You get used to the idea after a while, I suppose," she replied reassuringly.

"As long as you're happy with it," Melaran replied softly, "I'll do whatever I need to, for both of you. That's what's important to me, you've been on that short list for a while now."

Preliminary DNA scans would seem to indicate that the child was fully Eldar, however whether or not she had inherited their shapeshifting ability was still open to question. That at least answers one question that might have crossed Melaran's mind at an inopportune time and caused a sudden lock-up. It also left a great deal of leeway in the naming department as the purely Eldar names would certainly be appropriate with that in mind. A thousand or so questions and considerations started pouring through Melaran's mind in the wake of the announcement, the worry and quiet joy transmitting clearly to Tarna.


End file.
